Here is a Christmas story that takes place after my story, 'The Girl Who Hated Halloween'. Enjoy, no flames, and Merry Christmas! :)
"Come to me, Jane...come...come to me noooowww..."
In Transylvania, on a cold December eve, a teenage girl named Jane was slowly waking through the dark forest, within the foreboding woods was the castle of Count Dracula, the legendary vampire himself.
Jane stepped through the snow. She wore her rain boots, purple bathrobe and white earmuffs. She had a dazed look on her face, it was as if she was hypnotized.
And she was.
Watching from his castle window, Count Dracula saw Jane emerge from the woods. He smiled to himself and he went downstairs.
On Halloween night, Jane met Dracula thanks to Timmy and Lucy, two siblings that Jane babysat. Thanks to Dracula and his monster friends, Jane rediscovered her love for Halloween again.
But tonight, Dracula was using his hypnotic powers to lure Jane to him! But why?
Igor opened the ancient wooden door and Jane wandered inside, completely under Dracula's spell.
"Ah, Jane. I bid you welcome." said Dracula as he glided down the steps. "And I'm glad to know my hypnosis is working well."
"Yes, Master..." Jane droned.
"Now, come with me, Jane." Dracula inched his finger toward him. Jane took a step forward the vampire.
"JANE! JANE!" Two young voices called out before Timmy and Lucy ran into the castle. They saw the entranced look on Jane's face and realized she was hypnotized.
Dracula smiled, showing his fangs. "Timmy! Lucy! What a nice surprise!" He was always happy to see his human friends.
"Drac! What are you doing with Jane?!" asked Timmy. "She's suppose to be babysitting us and you have her under your spell! What's the deal?!"
"You're not trying to take a bite out of her, are you?!" Lucy said in an angry tone.
"What?! I would never do such a thing!" Dracula implied. "Sure, Jane's neck looks very good...and juicy..." He tried not to lick his lips. "But I summoned Jane to help me with an issue!"
"What about Igor? He's your assistant!" said Timmy.
Dracula rolled his eyes. "Igor is seeing the witch doctor to replace the metal plate in his head. I remembered that I was able to mesmerize Jane on Halloween, so I used my power to bring her here to help me with a huge crisis!"
"Well, what's the huge crisis that you had to drag Jane all the way out here?!"
"Follow me!" With a whip of his cape, Dracula lead Jane and the kids upstairs to his room. He pointed to his open window. "THAT is the huge crisis!"
Timmy and Jane looked out and saw their humble little town...decorated with the most beautiful Christmas lights.
"What's the deal, Drac?" asked Lucy. "I don't see anything wrong."
"There is something wrong! Those awful, cheerful looking lights down there!" Dracula quivered in disgust. "Something must be done! I've gathered the other monsters to put a stop to this!"
"But Dracula! It's not a bad thing! It's a part of Christmas!" Lucy said. "It's a holiday like Halloween!"
"What?! A holiday like Halloween?!" Dracula said in disbelief. "Explain!"
"First, release Jane from your spell!" Lucy ordered.
Dracula rolled his eyes before snapping his fingers. Jane blinked twice and shook her head. "Whoa!" she groaned as she rubbed her eyes. "Where am I? What happened?" She gasped. "D-Dracula?!" She backed up until she bumped into the kids. "Timmy?! Lucy?!" Her face went from shocked to angry. "Alright! What's going on and how did I get here?!"
"I lured you here with my hypnosis, my sweet, scrumptious looking Jane." Dracula said. "I would like to know what is the meaning of this holiday you call 'Christmas' and why must involve those blindingly awful lights ruining my view?!"
Jane took her phone out of her robe pocket. She always had her phone on her no matter what. When she saw the one, her jaw dropped. "You dragged me out of bed at one o'clock in the morning for that?!"
Dracula frowned and raised his hand. "A flick of my wrist and I could put you under my power again!" he warned.
Jane's eyes grew as she gulped.
At that moment, Frankenstein, the Werewolf, and the Zombie king shambled into the room. Jane couldn't help but whimper. Seeing the monsters always gave her the chills, even though she knew they were nice monsters.
"Where's the mummy?" asked Dracula.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Jane screamed and ran over to hide behind Lucy. Apparently, the Mummy decided to give Jane a good scare from behind.
Dracula and his creepy comrades laughed and congratulated Mummy as he took a bow.
"Can we just move on to Christmas?!" Jane asked in a petrified voice. "No more scary please!"
"Then by all means, tell us, Jane!" said Dracula.
Once Jane regained her composure, she announced loud enough so the monsters can hear. "Okay, monsters. Here's the deal. Christmas is a holiday where friends and family come together to love and happiness, peace on Earth and good will to all."
"WHAT?!" the monsters roared.
"What kind of holiday is that?!" Dracula sneered. "It's disgusting!"
Jane put her hands on her hips. "What's wrong with peace on Earth, love and happiness?!"
"We're monsters, Jane! We don't do any of that!" Dracula replied. "We live for all things scary and creepy crawly! We cause nightmares, haunt and frighten the souls of the living!"
"But peace is important for monsters too!" Jane said.
"Oh, please." The vampire rolled his eyes. "How is peace important to us?"
"Because without peace, humans will be driven to rise up against monsters and end up destroying you." Jane said. "But with pleasant diversions that promote peace such as Christmas, humans won't even think about hating monsters or wanting to destroy you."
The room was silent with agreement.
"That's...actually a pretty good insight." Frankenstein said. "I never thought of that."
"Your astuteness is astounding, Jane." Dracula rubbed his chin. "You are a wise servant indeed."
Jane frowned. "I'm nobody's servant."
"Hey! I got an idea!" Lucy said. "Why don't we have a Christmas party here? That way, we can show you guys how great the holiday is!"
Dracula turned to his friends. They all shared concerned looks."Well...I don't know about that. I mean, peace is alright, but I'm not a fan of the lights and bright colors."
"Yeah, it burns my eyes." Frankenstein said.
The Mummy grumbled as he covered his eyes. The Werewolf growled with disdain as the Zombie King moaned painfully.
"Then why don't we take Christmas and give it a make-under?" Jane suggested. "That way, you monsters are comfortable with it."
"Then it's settled!" Dracula announced. "Let us celebrate and enjoy the perks of this Christmas holiday in our own monstrous way! Meeting adjourned!"
The monsters cheered with happiness as Jane sighed.
"Isn't this great, Jane? A monster Christmas!" Lucy said in excitement.
"I can hardly wait." Jane deadpanned. "Oh when will this holiday joy ever stop?" Her sarcasm was thick as a Christmas fruitcake.
Over the past week, Jane, Timmy, and Lucy had gone through all craft stores for discount Halloween and Christmas supplies and rummaging through their decorations at home for their own leftover Halloween and Christmas decor.
By the time they were finished, Jane's car was packed with everything they needed. Including a dead pine tree strapped on top of Jane's car.
"You sure this is gonna work?" Timmy asked Jane as they drove to the castle.
"Well, I don't know a better way to make Christmas scary than combine it with Halloween." Jane said.
"I just can't believe you're okay with helping Drac and the monsters." Lucy said.
"I'm not." Jane said bluntly.
The kids arrived at the castle. The monsters were at the door ready to help out.
"Welcome, my warm blooded friends!" Dracula greeted. "Let's get Christmas party started!"
Jane got out of her car and took out a clipboard. "Okay, everyone! If we're gonna make this work, we need to work as a team!" she said in a firm, but fair voice. "Frank, take the tree and bring it in the living room. Everyone else with CAREFULLY bring in the decorations. And remember! Lift with your legs, not your back!"
The monsters saluted and got to work. With Frankenstein's strength, he was able to easily bring in the dead tree into the castle while everyone brought in boxes of decorations inside.
"Okay, now that the tree is set up, we get to decorate it with whatever we want!" Jane said with a smile. "So, let's get to it!" She took out her phone and began playing Christmas music.
As the Christmas music played, the monsters began swaying to the beat and having fun! Dracula flew up to hang the garland on the stair rails, Frankenstein handled the lights while the kids did the ornaments, the werewolf and the Zombie King tag-teamed on hanging the stockings.
Jane looked around. "Hey, where's the mummy?"
"Over there." Timmy pointed to a corner in the room. Jane saw Mummy sitting on the floor wrapping his arms with red Christmas ribbon.
Jane couldn't help but laugh. "Mummy! That's not what the ribbon is for!" She went over to her spooky friend. "This is for wrapping presents and decorating." She tried to unravel her friend, but Mummy pulled his arm away, shaking his head.
"What's wrong?" asked Jane.
Mummy muttered something. Jane tilted her head.
"He said he wants to look festive for the holiday." Dracula said.
"Oh! I see. But Mummy, there's a better way for you to look festive without wrapping yourself like a present." She helped him up. "Let's go to the store and get you an ugly Christmas sweater! It's not Christmas without an ugly sweater to wear!"
Mummy mumbled something again.
"He said he's in!" Dracula smiled.
"Great! Mummy, you're gonna need a disguise. Drac, you're coming with me. I'll need an interpreter. I don't speak mummy."
Jane made sure Mummy was well disguised. The bandaged corpse wore a long blue coat, black pants, gloves, boots, and dark sunglasses over his gauzed eyes.
Dracula had no problem being in disguise. Aside from his fangs, he looked absolutely human. He wore his black trench coat, pants, and shoes. He grinned seeing the sun setting. "Excellent. The sun has fallen. Let us venture into the night to the mall of shopping!"
"Just be on your guard, guys! Humans can be more vicious than any monster at night, especially at Christmas time! So, we all stay together!"
The three friends ventured to the mall. They were surprised by the large crowds of humans there. Buying presents and waiting impatiently in lines.
"Okay, be cool and focus on the goal. Get an ugly Christmas sweater for Mummy and stick together!"
Jane and the monsters kept to themselves as they arrived in the clothing department. After several fittings in the fitting room, Mummy finally picked his ugly sweater and the friends left the store.
"Wow, Mummy! You looked great in all these sweaters!" Jane looked at her photos on her phone. She, Mummy, and Dracula took many selfies in cheerfully garish Christmas sweaters and accessories...even though Dracula didn't appear in any of them.
"So, what should we do once we get back to the castle?" asked Dracula.
"Well, on Christmas Eve, people gather together to have a big party!" Jane said. "So, let's to the castle and get this party started!"
It was the dead of night and Jane drove down the dark, snowy road.
"Y'know, this Christmas thing has been pretty fun!" Dracula admitted. "I never thought I'd like this holiday, but here you go!"
Jane smiled. "Well, I'm glad you like Christmas, Drac-AAAAAAAHHH!" Jane slammed on the breaks when a hysterical women and two small children, a boy and a girl, came running out of the forest.
The frantic woman threw her hands on the front of the car. "HELP! YOU GOTTA HELP ME!"
Jane and her friends got out. "Whoa! Whoa! What's wrong?!"
"HE'S GOING TO KILL US!"
BANG!
A gunshot rang from the forest. The woman and her children got into the car. A man wearing all black and a matching ski mask came out with a gun, ready to shoot again.
Mummy instinctively jumped in between the gunman and his targets, his arms spread wide open. The man shot right at Mummy, but Mummy didn't go down. He stood his ground.
The man paused, but kept firing. Mummy took every single shot. It wasn't until he ran out of bullets that the man realized his target was not human. Dracula grabbed the man from behind and took a bite into his neck.
The woman turned pale as she and her children watched in horror.
"Are you guys okay?" Jane asked.
The children nodded mutely. But the mother was too shocked to even nod. "W-What are those people?!"
Jane sighed, but managed to smile. She had a feeling this would happen. "Well, they're not human. They're monsters."
The vampire dropped the man. He licked the drips of blood off his lips and took a bow. "Count Dracula, at your service."
Mummy took off his hat and sunglasses. He waved to the stunned humans.
"And this is the Mummy." Jane said. "He only speaks in mumbles."
Mummy nodded as he started picking the bullets out of his torso. Jane slapped his arm. "Hey! Don't do that! People are watching!"
Mummy shrunk in shame.
Jane sighed, shaking her head. "Alright, let's call the cops and have them pick up the trash." She took put her phone and called the police.
Cops and paramedics arrived to help the woman and her children. Their attacker was barely alive after having his blood drained by Dracula. Nonetheless, he was taken out on a stretcher and was ready to be arrested.
"Um, t-t-thank you for your help, C-Count Dracula." said the shaky police officer.
"No problem." Dracula said. He looked over and saw Mummy playing patty cake with the children.
Jane chuckled. "Come on, Mummy. Time to go home."
Mummy mumbled 'Bye-bye' to the kids and got back in the car. They drove back to the castle and returned safe and sound. Everyone gathered in the living room where Jane explained the whole story to the rest of her friends.
"Okay! That is beyond crazy!" said Timmy. "That lady's ex-boyfriend was gonna kill her?!"
"Yep! But my monster pals saved the day! Mummy was the perfect shield while Drac put the big bite on that loser!" Jane said. She looked over to see Mummy picking the rest of the bullets out of his chest. "How ya doin', Slugger?"
Mummy gave a thumbs up.
A knock came to the door. The humans and monsters went right up to the door and opened it. "Igor! Welcome back!"
The hunchback assistant smiled as best he could. "Ah! Miss Jane! How delightful to see you again! And you decorated for Christmas! I've always wanted to celebrate it!"
Jane hugged the deformed friend. "And you haven't missed a thing!"
"E-Excuse me."
Jane and Igor looked over and saw the woman and her two children. "Huh?! What are you guys doing here?!"
The woman meekly stepped forward. "W-Well, we haven't got a chance to thank you for your help." Her children ran over and Mummy embraced them in a friendly hug.
"It was our pleasure, Madame!" Dracula said warmly. "How would you like to join our little Christmas party?"
"Can we, Mom?!" asked the woman's son.
"Please, Mom?! We're not doing anything for Christmas Eve anyway!" the woman's daughter said.
The woman looked at Jane, very unsure.
"Don't worry. These monsters aren't bad. Scary, yes. But not bad." Jane smiled. "You and your children are fine. Besides, it's Christmas."
Sensing her words were honest, the woman accepted Dracula's offer. When they stepped inside, they were amazed by how festive the place looked for a haunted castle.
In the living riim, Jane was playing Christmas songs on the pipe organ. Dracula watched his friends, both monster and human, mingling and having fun.
"Hey, Drac!" Timmy said as he and Lucy brought him some hot cocoa. "Great party!"
"I owe it all to you kids!" Dracula said as he took the warm mug. "Thank you, kids! Especially Jane! I never thought she would be such a big help, but here you go!"
"Well, don't forget Jane." Lucy said. "Looks like she had a lot of fun helping you guys with Christmas."
The kids and Dracula turned back at Jane, who was having a blast dancing with Mummy while the organ played Christmas carols by itself. She was having a lot of fun for someone who wasn't thrilled to help monsters.
"Guess Jane was happy to help after all." Lucy said.
"Yeah! Guess she's starting to like monsters after all." Timmy said.
"And I didn't have to hypnotize her!" Dracula said, smiling.