Movies a la Dracula

A/N: This is just a scene I thought might make a good oneshot. I hope you guys enjoy it and show that joy through lots of reviews. Oh, and just a warning: there are some monsters in this closet.

"No."

I shot Robin an 'I told you so' look that he politely responded to with a kick to my knee. "Why not?" he asked Niko. "What could you have to do that would be more fun than going to see a movie with us?" I could almost hear him add one of the comments that were sure to have been running through his head since I told him the idea. Apparently Niko could too.

"Goodfellow I can think of a multitude of things I would enjoy more than sitting next to you for two hours in a dark room. And the fact that it would be filled with hormonal, 'love-sick' teenagers and shadowy corners perfect for your everyday monster foes to be hiding in just strengthens my decision."

I was tempted to ask Niko which he considered to be the lesser of evils between those three points, but was enjoying not being the one he was lecturing right then. "Well, I guess that's settled. Loman, you owe me five dollars and Cyrano, I'll be back in time for our job tonight." With that being said, I grabbed a few extra of my deadly toys to take with me, stuffed them under my jacket, and headed for the door with five dollars in my pocket. Goodfellow followed me out, still trying to persuade Niko, who was holding his ground like a stone wall.

Before I could close the door behind us Niko grabbed a handful of my shirt to hold me back and told me to be home by eight. I agreed without arguing, knowing that the reason for the early curfew had something to do with my tardiness that had been getting us into trouble lately. Last time he told me to be home for a job we were half an hour late. In any normal New Yorker's life half an hour wouldn't make much difference; everyone was late due to the traffic, but we don't live normal lives. For us, being late meant arriving to our destination right before dinner for twelve very hungry monsters. We left with only a few cuts and scrapes but Niko made a point of being on time from then on. Not that he hadn't before then, but now we always, always got there a few minutes early, no exceptions.

Niko released my shirt and I slipped into the hallway. Robin was heading down the stairs to the lobby when I caught up with him, and he was grumbling that it's our fault he got into the habit of using the stairs, which in turn took away the luxury of elevators. He could complain all he wanted, I wasn't listening. I'd learned long ago that when Robin was complaining just let him keep going till he stopped, or he never would. When we got about seven blocks away from the apartment I joined in with my own grumblings as the rain that had been sprinkling lightly for the last few minutes began to pour down in sheets. We sped up and made our way over to the subway station that had been placed so conveniently a couple yards away. Once inside that I quickly forgot my irritation when Robin started yelling about his ruined shirt. At least I think that is what it was about. He only used three or four English words in all, but he got the point across nonetheless. I moved a few steps away from him to look out the window once the heads started turning our way. I hummed to myself quietly, but stopped abruptly in surprise. Since when did I hum? I tried to forget about it the instant I remembered: Darkling. Darkling loved to hum, sing, anything musical. That was one thing he and his horrible sisters had in common. The bus stopped then and I got off with Robin. He noticed that I was quiet and tried to getting me talking. "So, kid—"

I tried to hit him but he ducked it, and gave up, knowing that he was quicker than me. "Don't call me kid."

"Sorry," he said sarcastically. "So, sir what job is it you and Niko are doing tonight?"

"Some guy, a mythology professor I think, let a brownie live in his house, thinking it was 'a really interesting creature'." Robin laughed quietly.

"They never learn. Let me guess, the brownie suddenly got a temper?"

"Yep," I said eloquently, nodding. "And now we get to deal with the job of getting rid of the Bogart. I hope Niko got a good price for this one; those things are stubborn."

"Cal, they are extremely easy to kill," Robin said, on the verge of sounding patronizing.

"Yes," I said, finishing his thought. "They're really, really simple things to kill, but to kill you must first catch and capture. That is the exact opposite of extremely easy."

Inside the theatre we went straight to the snack and drink thing standing in the middle. When we got to the front of the line I promptly order nachos with extra cheese, a large soda, and some M&Ms. I asked Robin if he wanted the same and he gave me a rather disturbed look. "Caliban I hate to tell you this but your brother is right. You should seriously start eating better." Turning to the cashier, "One bottled water please."

"Oh Robin, I didn't realize you cared about my health so much. I'm touched," I said, my sarcasm well-hidden from years of experience was caught only by the puck. Oh well, I guess he does have a few years of practice more than me to claim as his own.

"I could care less about your health; even if it does ruin your figure and kill you faster than even the Auphe could hope. I simply wish I didn't have to witness it first-hand; you're ruining my appetite. Now go on to theatre seven; I don't want to get bad seats." I shook my head and turned to the left, where the ticket-counter attendee said room 7 would be. Inside I looked at my wrist and, remembering I didn't own a watch, gazed at the empty, and then finally turned to Goodfellow. "You were worried about there not being seats? We're early!"

"Yes we are. I knew you were bound to make us late, so I made sure we would be early." I let it go; he was probably right.

As we slid into our seats I realized that Robin never told me what movie he got us tickets to. Glancing around the room for any threats, I asked him about it. His wicked grin made me pay less attention to the room and focus closer on the puck. "Well?" I asked impatiently.

"Don't worry little Ninja Jr. I'm not making you see anything that's rated based on its 'mature content' or anything. Not today at least. No, today we're seeing a classic." I looked at him curiously and he elaborated. "This theatre apparently only shows really old films. The original horror movies. I just thought I should make sure they got Dracula's character right. He'd be mortified if the producers warped his story in any way. They do that so often." He sighed and looked up at the screen.

"Wait, you're serious? We're seeing Count Dracula?" At his nod I laughed. "Why?"

"As I said he deserves to get his story told correctly. Now be silent, people are trying to enjoy the movie," he said quietly.

"It hasn't started yet!" I whispered back.

"It's about to." I huffed and sat back in the squeaky chair. After a few minutes of watching the dancing bags of popcorn and candy, I resumed my study of the room and its occupants. "No, that can't be right." I looked around again. "Apparently it is."

Just as I was about to say something to Robin, positive that he must have noticed, the movie started, playing some old song that's purpose was to be creepy. It succeeded only because of what I saw were all around me. Imagining I felt a clawed, scaly hand on my shoulder, I shuddered even though I knew it wasn't actually there.

On most occasions, monsters don't bother me. After all, I know I could win a fight against them any day, and even if I couldn't, Niko could. It was simple facts, and good logic; I always kept it in mind when confronting a monster. But for some reason I couldn't care less about those facts right at that moment. For at that moment I was sitting in a small, dark, closed room, mere steps away from roughly forty different monsters and my big brother wasn't there. Robin was, and that was some consolation but not enough to calm my now twitching right index finger.

"Okay Cal it's time for you to chill out," I told myself, knowing I was sounding crazy. I looked around again, hoping to be able to label at least a few of the creatures in the room. "Or death trap," I thought. "No! It's just a room. Albeit a room full of monsters, but still just a room."

My final roster was four vampires, thirteen werewolves, two Amadán, two revenants, and about fifteen others I couldn't name. If only Niko had said yes to coming with us. He would have known all their names. I'm sure he could've also told you where they came from, what they ate, their mating habits, if they despised humans, etc.

I slouched down a bit further in my chair and tried to watch the movie. There was no way I'd be able to relax but maybe I could at least calm down a little. That hope went down the drain however about half an hour into the movie when some of the werewolves started fighting. Fur wasn't flying yet but it sounded like it would be soon. Time to hit the road.

"Hey Robin?" I whispered as quietly as I possibly could. All I got was a half-raised eyebrow in response. "Loman!"

"What?" He snapped silently, not really annoyed.

"I think it's time for us to leave," I muttered.

"What? Why?" Now I got two eyebrows up.

"Come on. We're going." He glanced at me, saw I was serious, and glanced around subtly. Seeing the object to my discomfort he nodded slightly, obviously reluctant to go, and got up. I followed suit and we half-crouched, half-walked up the aisle. Even when we pushed to door open, bringing light into the room, we only got a few sidelong glances. I sighed heavily once we reached the sidewalk and was tempted to lean against the wall and take a few deep breaths. One look at the wall though and I decided against. Niko would not be pleased if my jacket got ruined by a mold covered wall. "You know," Goodfellow started thoughtfully after a few blocks. "Even if they did start fighting, we probably wouldn't have been dragged into it."

"No, probably not, but I didn't feel like taking that gamble." He nodded silently, most likely lost in thoughts about Dracula. "And by the way, what was with not mentioning it was Monster Movie Night at the theatre?"

"Honestly Caliban, you'd think that by now you would have realized that there is just about everything for monsters to do in New York. They have their own bars, restaurants, banks, parks, everything. Movie theatres included."

"You still could have told me, you know, just to give me a slight forewarning."

"Ah but where is the fun in that? If I had told you I wouldn't have gotten the entertainment that I did in watching you turn nine shades of white. I didn't know it was possible."

"Hmph," I grumbled and stalked off ahead of him. He caught up easily and had the grace to keep the laughter on the inside.

After a few minutes I caught him looking at me carefully, making sure I really was okay. It's funny how even though Niko wasn't there, I still had a big brother of sorts to look out for me. "Not that it matters to me either way," I thought and picked up the pace. I could've sworn I saw Robin shake his head before taking up the position behind me, all in a very Niko-ish manner.

And with that I accepted the silent command to watch for any threats coming at us from the front. That was the point to walking one in front of the other; you knew what was coming at you from all sides. I guess it wasn't too bad having Robin there.

After a couple more blocks he began to complain once again. This time it was about not being able to finish his movie. "Shut up, Loman."

"Stop calling me Loman," he said, agitated.

"Shut up, sir," I said, grinning. "When we get to the apartment maybe we can try to talk Niko into renting it."

"Oh alright." He sighed dramatically. "It's just not the same though."

"Well maybe Niko would watch it with us," I said, wondering if he really would. "Would that make up for it?"

He didn't answer but I could practically hear him grin. We kept walking.