Chapter 3
"So...we have to leave?"
Mavis gave a nod, hurriedly stuffing a few items of clothing into a suitcase and trying to shut it. "Yes, as soon as possible."
Johnny let out a low whistle in surprise. "Wow. It's kinda short notice though...I mean, a day before? Surely they're meant to give you more time than that."
"I don't think most hotel inspectors take into consideration people trying to stay away," Mavis said dryly, putting the bag on the floor and sitting down on the bed. She gave a sigh, reaching up to rub at her head in exhaustion. "We still have to get the kids packed too, and we can't do that until tonight...why did Dad have to tell us after they went to bed?"
"Hey, it'll be fine," Johnny told her assuringly, sitting up on his knees behind her and putting his hands on her shoulders. He started to massage them gently, hoping it would calm her down. "Don't worry about it."
She just looked over her shoulder at him, lips pressed together in a thin line. "I know, it's just...I always worry when we have an inspector come. When I was little, the thought of them getting rid of my home terrified me and...and it still does."
"Yeah, but this hotel is awesome," The red-head stated. "No one would shut it down, not when it keeps so many monsters safe. Besides, it's one of the best I've ever stayed in - trust me on that one, 'cause there are some pretty awful ones out there for humans." He peered at her, stopping his massaging and letting his arms drop to his sides. "Are you okay, Mavy? You look really pale."
"I'm fine," She brushed off quickly, crossing her arms and resting them on her stomach. "I guess I'm just tired, what with all the having to pack and stuff."
"Well, let me help," He offered, already trying to clamber off the bed so that he could do so. "What else have you got to do? I could always help with the kids' stuff tomorrow, so you can relax before we go."
Mavis just shook her head. "Thank you, but I can manage."
Johnny stopped, sitting back on the bed again and keeping his eyes trained on his wife. It usually took a lot to get him worried, considering how laid-back he was all the time, but when it came to his family it became difficult to just sit and watch it go by; he had to do something to help as much as he could, even if he didn't really want to.
"Have I done something wrong?" He asked, blinking at her confusedly. "You're really weird with me...you've been like that for like a week now."
"No, it's nothing you've done," Mavis told him, suddenly feeling quite guilty. "I'm just tired. I think I should get a day's rest or something, before tonight. Something tells me it's not going to be easy getting the kids out of the hotel quietly."
Okay, now that Johnny had to agree with - put lightly, all three of the children loved coming to the hotel as often as possible and were always reluctant to leave. "True... But you were like this before we heard about the hotel inspection. Something's gotta be up." He leaned closer to her, hoping that she'd open up to him instead of getting angry or something. "You can tell me, Mavy."
"Nothing's wrong," She denied, standing up again and heading to the bathroom. "Look, can we please just leave it? I'm tired."
"But-"
Mavis spun around on the spot, glaring at him as her eyes glowed. "Just LEAVE it!"
As she turned again and left the room, Johnny couldn't help but feel rather put out; they used to be able to talk to each other about anything, without fear of being judged, and now...now it felt like they weren't even married, what with how much they were telling each other.
Looks like I'm gonna need more flowers soon.
The next night seemed to arrive too quickly for Dracula - it was only when he rose from his coffin as the sun set that he realized his family had to leave soon before the inspector turned up in the lobby.
The kids won't like that, Dracula thought, but he knew there wasn't anything else for it; the last time Mavis and Johnny had stayed hadn't been too pleasant for anyone involved. This had been just after the couple had gotten married, so it wasn't as if Johnny was a human anymore...but, as it turned out, humans who had been changed weren't too kindly looked upon. Because of this, Mavis and Johnny had decided it would be better for both them and their kids to try and keep them away from any possible drama.
The Count yawned and smiled up at the portrait of his love hanging across the room - even hundreds of years later, he still liked looking at her portrait and seeing her smiling. During the first decade or so after her death, it had helped him to see her look so happy in that painting, helped him to get on with his jobs for the night and look after their daughter.
Wherever she is, I'm sure her spirit is happy.
It sounded corny, but he liked to think that her spirit was still with them - that his darling Martha was still watching over him and Mavis over the years, proud at how far they had come. That way it wasn't so sad because, in a way, she was there when all of the big things happened; she had been there in spirit for every one of their daughter's birthdays, to see Mavis getting married and starting her own family.
"Good morning, love," He greeted quietly, stretching his arms out as he properly woke up before heading for the wardrobe to get dressed - after all, with an inspector visiting, he had to look his very best.
He didn't really want to have to see his family leave, not after he'd become so excited for this current visit, but he knew that it was for the greater good: the less drama there was, the more chance they had of being able to keep coming back to the hotel as they grew older. It was unfair, but he'd have to deal with that.
Mina frowned as she watched her father walk around her room and grab her belongings - she had Martha-bat in her arms, so that the toy wouldn't go in a suitcase and be alone - to pack. "Why do we have to leave? I was having fun."
Johnny just gave a sigh, shoving the things in his arms into her bag. "I know, cutie, I know. But we'll come back soon, I promise."
This just caused her to frown even more, clearly puzzled. "But why can't we stay longer? Why do we have to leave now?"
Of course Johnny couldn't say anything to her about his past of being a human - it was too complicated to explain to her certain things just yet - or the fact that some monsters in the world resented him because of it, so he had to think of a reasonable explanation before answering. "Well...your Mommy and I realized that this week...uhh...a lot of guests are gonna come, and that your Grandpa would be too busy to...to hang out."
Smooth. Still, she's little so maybe she'll believe it.
Mina sighed, looking down at her bat sadly. "Is this because you and Mommy want to argue at home, so people won't hear?"
Johnny froze on the spot, dropping a pair of her shoes he'd been holding.
"It's okay if you do," She continued, stroking Martha-bat's ears with her finger tentatively. "But can you not do it while we're awake? I can't sleep, 'cause all I can hear is the shouting."
She's heard the arguments? All three of them have heard it?
The red-head immediately sat down next to his daughter on her bed and put an arm around her. "Oh man...you don't like it when we argue, huh?"
Mina shook her head. "No." Her shoulders slumped, and her eyes suddenly became rather glazed over as she looked up at him. "Are you and Mommy not in love anymore? Are you not gonna be married still either?"
"What? Of course we are!" Johnny answered quickly, pulling her into a proper hug. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"Because you're arguing," She stated, as if it were obvious. "You're yelling and not being nice."
He gave a small nod. "Yeah, okay. We're yelling a bit lately...but that doesn't mean we don't love each other. I mean, you fight with Lu and Jack all the time, don't you? But that doesn't mean you guys don't love each other."
"Yeah, but we have to love each other," Mina said, rolling her eyes slightly. "They're my brother and sister - I have no choice, Daddy."
He couldn't help but smile slightly at this. "Your Mommy and I are always gonna love each other - haven't I told you about the zing?" She nodded, also smiling a little bit as she remembered the tale. "Well, we zinged; we're meant to be." He lifted a hand and carefully stroked a tuft of black hair away from her face so that she could see properly. "I'm sorry you guys have been hearing all of the arguments - we never wanted you to hear that."
"I know," She told him, looking up at him with wide eyes. "So why did you do it?"
"We didn't realize," He admitted guiltily, and couldn't help but hug her tighter to himself. "But we promise that we won't yell at each other anymore - at all. I mean, we're not fighting anymore, so..."
"You're not?" Mina asked, brightening up suddenly. "Really?"
"Nope," He agreed, grinning down at her. "We've sorted everything out, and we're not going to yell anymore."
Mina smiled radiantly, clearly pleased. "Good, because I was going to complain to Grandpa if you didn't stop it." She paused, clearly thinking something over in her head. "Is it because of the hotel?"
"What about the hotel?"
"We're in the hotel," She repeated, suddenly more excited, and pulled away from him. "And the hotel is magic! It's where all the fun stuff happens, and it's where you and Mommy met, and it's...it's...it's magic!"
Johnny couldn't help but grin and let out a chuckle; he'd never thought about it that way, but now that his daughter was saying it he could see where she was coming from. "Yeah, you're right! Anyway..." He stood up and looked at her pointedly. "We still have to pack."
Mina's smile disappeared immediately.
"Have fun sneaking out?" Jack teased when his sister walked over to him. The two were in the lobby, waiting with their suitcases and bags, for their parents and younger sister to come downstairs so that they could check out.
Lucy glared at him. "Shut up. You don't know I was sneaking out."
"I heard you clamber through your bedroom window tonight from down the hall," He told her dryly. "You're not exactly quiet, Lu - at least you found your own room and not mine this time." He turned back to his book, skimming over the words on the page quickly. "So, how did it go this time? Any zings yet?"
"What do you think?" She grumbled back, folding her arms. "I thought I came close, though; there was this really cute human boy walking home on his own...you know, the kind with intense dark eyes and muscular physique that are really hot..."
"I've never really seen that in boys before," Jack joked sarcastically.
Lucy sent him another glare before continuing. "Anyway, I had to morph and actually talk to him before I realized that there wasn't much of a 'zing' going on...still, he looked pretty interested before I left."
Her brother, unable to concentrate on his book anymore, shut it and placed it on top of his suitcase before turning to look at his sister with wide eyes. "Lu, I understand what you want...but there's no need for it now... I mean, what if someone realizes what you are?" He shook his head, not even wanting to think about the possibilities. "Think about it, Lu: some humans might not be so accepting, even now. If anyone finds out, they might-"
"Might try to torch me," Lucy finished dryly. "Or, if I manage to get away, they might follow me back here and try to kill as many of us as possible. I get it."
Before Jack could respond to this, their mother came hurrying over to them from presumably across the lobby, holding Mina against her body with one arm and using the other to carry the child's bags.
"You guys are packed, right?" Mavis asked immediately, and both of the teen-aged vampires nodded - it was clear that their mother didn't want to waste any time. "Great. Well, that's all of us packed...I'm just going to go and help your Dad with our own bags." She passed Mina, who was in her arms, to Lucy to hold. "Can you just watch her for a minute?"
"Yeah, sure," Lucy agreed, shifting the slightly heavy weight in her arms. Geez, what has she been eating lately?
Mavis turned away and left to go back upstairs, leaving the children by themselves.
"Now what?" Jack asked, picking up his book again.
Lucy, unable to hold her sister for much longer, put Mina down on the floor and bent down to look at her seriously. "Mina, I'm going to go and buy a magazine from the gift shop. Can you stay here with Jack until I get back?"
Mina just blinked innocently, clutching her bat you in her hands.
"I'll take that as a yes. Jack," She stood up and looked at her brother this time. "Look, I know that book is probably very interesting, but can you just make sure she doesn't run off? Just for five minutes?"
"Yeah, yeah," He muttered, not lifting his eyes to look at her. "Whatever."
Lucy's lips pressed together in a thin line but she didn't comment; instead, she headed across the lobby through a large group of guests to go to the gift shop.
Mina, meanwhile, looked down at her Martha-bat in silence; she still didn't understand why they had to leave. The hotel being busy never usually stopped them from staying, so why was it now? It just didn't make sense to her...then again, a lot of things that older people did didn't make a lot of sense to her either.
Just as she was pondering this, a dark figure caught her eye; looking up, she saw that a monster of some kind had entered the hotel and was heading up to the front desk.
Oohh...I've never seen a guest like that! Mina looked down at Martha-bat and smiled mischievously. "Wanna go on an adventure?" The bat just continued to smile, so the child jumped up and giggled. "Come on, before we lose them!"
Her brother didn't notice her running across the lobby away from him.
"Hey!"
"Hey," Jack mumbled back, not looking up from his book.
"Mom and Dad not down here yet?" Lucy asked, looking around; her brother just shook his head, continuing to read. Knowing she wouldn't get much more of a reaction out of him, the red-head opened her magazine to read it before remembering that they were meant to be watching their sister.
She looked down, only to find that Mina was nowhere to be seen.
"Uhh…Jack?" Lucy whispered to her brother nervously, putting the magazine she'd been reading down on her suitcase. "Where's Mina?"
Jack looked up from his book and gazed around the hotel with alert brown eyes. "Umm…with Mom and Dad?"
The red-head shook her head. "No. They left her here with us, so they could get their bags."
The siblings looked at each other for a moment before snapping into action; Lucy morphed into her bat form and flew to the other end of the lobby to search for their little sister, while Jack simply ran in the opposite direction, book still in his hand.
"Mina?" Lucy called, blue eyes searching through all of the different monster guests.
"Mina!" Jack shouted, trying to make himself heard as he pushed through a throng of guests worriedly.
The next thing he knew he was bumping straight into his father; the two clumsily fell to the floor, Jack's book falling out of his hands, and they let out identical 'oomph!'s in an almost comical way.
Mavis appeared seconds later, and looked down at the two with a somewhat amused expression. "You guys alright down there?" She laughed, and both of the other vampires clambered to their feet quickly, Jack reaching to pick up his book. "Anyway, what are you doing over here? We're meant to be leaving in a quiet wa-"
"Mina's gone," Jack blurted, cringing when both of his parents just stared at him. "Hey, it's not my fault - Lucy's the oldest! It was totally her job!"
Johnny and Mavis looked at each other, smiles fading completely as the panic started to set in. "What do you mean 'gone'?" Johnny asked, eyes wide. "Where's Lu now?"
Jack blinked, slowly lifting a finger in the general direction his eldest sister had gone in. "She's looking too…"
Mavis was visibly starting to panic; judging by her wide eyes and even paler than usual skin, her husband briefly wondered if she'd gone into shock. "Look, she's probably just with some of the guests," He assured her quickly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I mean, you know how she loves playing with that Yeti family, the ones in Room-"
Before he could finish his sentence, his wife had morphed into her bat form and was already flying across the lobby. "We've got to look for her!" She called over her shoulder worriedly, already in full-blown panic mode. While she knew that none of the guests would even dream of hurting any of her children (let alone the tiny little Mina), some of them were quite large…what if one stepped on her accidentally?
Before she could fret more on that thought, Mavis bumped into another bat; judging by the bright red fur and blue eyes, it was immediately clear that it was Lucy who she'd just collided with. "Mom!" Lucy cried, voice higher than usual. She looked around, as if an excuse would appear out of thin air. "I was just…you know…taking a quick flight before we left! Stretching my wings and all!"
"I know that your sister is missing," Mavis said dryly, and her eldest daughter's shoulders slumped. "And let me tell you now, you and your brother are going to be in so much trouble when we get ho-"
A high-pitched child's shriek cut her off. Both bats looked down and around the lobby, trying to see where it had come from; a second scream and the direction that some of the monsters in the lobby started to head towards lead them to the check-out desk. The mother and daughter morphed back before pushing through the crowd to try and find the youngest vampire child.
The first thing they saw was a tall and stunning female vampire with flowing brown hair and emerald green eyes; she was dressed in a long, sleek black dress that reached past her feet, giving her a regal look, and she had a gold necklace around her neck with a red jewel of some kind shining on top of her chest. She was definitely attractive, no doubt about it, although she would have been more so if she hadn't been wearing such an unpleasant scowl on her face in that moment.
"Whose child is this?" She snarled, voice cold. That was when everyone's attention was turned to a struggling child next to her; the dark-haired vampire child was squirming uncomfortably, and upon further inspection it was clear that the brunette vampire had an iron-tight grip on her wrist. Mina's Martha-bat lay on its own on the floor a few meters away, and Mina reached out her free arm for it uselessly.
Before Mavis could step in, another voice stopped her. "Err…she's my daughter." Everyone turned, only to see Johnny standing there; Jack was next to him, and it was clear that they'd only just managed to make their way through the crowd.
The tall vampiress spun to face him, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Your daughter?"
Johnny nodded meekly.
"Well, you should learn to have better control over your young!" She said coldly, and thrust Mina towards him. Mina stumbled and fell to the floor in front of her father and brother, immediately crawling closer to them for safety. "The little brat ran straight into me as I checked in!"
Johnny opened his mouth, only to be interrupted by a different stern voice - this time one that was much more welcome to him. "Yes, well, she is young," Dracula argued calmly, the crowd that had previously formed parting so that he could walk through. "She has much to learn…Ava, if I'm correct?"
The vampiress - Ava - straightened up even more. "You have to have control over young ones and discipline them - they'll never learn if they don't."
The Count took a step closer, demeanour suddenly more threatening. "That is not your decision to make," He said coldly. "And if you ever lay a hand on any of my grandchildren again, I'll make sure that you are very sorry."
Ava's mouth fell open slightly, eyebrows furrowed in utter disbelief. "She's your granddaughter?" She snarled, glaring back down at Mina; her eyes glowed a dangerous shade of red. Mina shuddered slightly on the spot, clinging to her brother's leg as if it were a teddy bear. "She is…that human's spawn?"
She focused her glare on Johnny, who couldn't help but flinch slightly on the spot. Jack hurriedly bent down and pulled his little sister into his arms - he could sense a fight brewing like a potion.
Mavis stepped forwards, glaring at the new vampire. "That's also my daughter you're talking about," She seethed, going into over-protective mode. She never thought she'd be as over-protective as her father, but now…now she could see exactly why he'd been like that with her. "My family - who are you to come into our hotel and judge us?"
Ava, surprisingly, smiled at the dark-haired vampire woman in a silkily sweet way that gave away more bad than good. "Oh, just a hotel inspector."
There was a gasp from the majority of the crowd, and muttering started to be heard amongst them; only Dracula seemed unfazed, clearly knowing who she'd been since the very start of the conversation.
Mavis, though quite surprised that it was the hotel inspector she was talking to, continued to frown. "So? You still have no right to treat my daughter like that!"
Ava gave Mavis a sly smile, bearing pearly white fangs. "And despite the fact that you're the owner's daughter - the one person who should care about the guests - you still continue to put everyone in our world in danger."
"She's NOT dangerous," Jack protested suddenly, getting the wrong idea. "She's…Mina is a baby, for goodness sake!"
Mina frowned at him seriously, quite offended. "I'm not a baby, Jack! I'm thirty-one now!"
"She's harmless," One of the guests - a fly - agreed, nodding his head.
"My son, Big Junior, plays with her all the time!" A Yeti mother stated, also nodding and smiling.
It was obvious that the brunette hotel inspector was not happy with the turn of conversation. "I didn't mean the little brat, I meant the human!" She pointed at Johnny and glared again. "He's dangerous to us!"
"Look, I know that my clothes stink bad sometimes," Johnny muttered. "But it's not that bad once you get used to it!"
"My husband isn't a human," Mavis argued impatiently, rolling her eyes. "I changed him before our wedding, over a hundred years ago."
"Oh! Yeah!" The red-head nodded, as if it proved the point. "See? I still have the marks where she bit me." He pointed to said marks, grinning around at everyone.
Dracula couldn't help but roll his eyes as well, this time at his son-in-law's behaviour. "Look," He said, trying to keep calm - he really didn't want to lose his hotel, even if it meant he had to be nice to such a…well, horrible guest. "Johnny has been staying at this hotel for over a hundred years, and he's never hurt anyone-"
"I didn't hurt anyone when I was human either," Johnny added, ignoring when the Count glared at him.
"He's harmless," The older vampire stated, directing it both at Ava and the other guests. "So there's no need to worry." He turned back to Ava, giving her a fake smile that matched his fake politeness. "Now, I will call one of the zombies from behind the desk to take you up to your room, and then they will bring your belongings for you."
"Thank You," Ava said, also in a fake polite tone, before turning to Mavis and giving her a rather thin smile. "It looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other then, doesn't it?"
"Actually, we were just leaving," Lucy blurted before her mother could speak.
Ava raised a curved eyebrow. "I see. So it has nothing to do with me or the human?"
"Our Dad isn't a human," Jack mumbled as the rest of the guests started to disperse; he moved closer to his older sister and passed Mina to her.
"We have to get home," Mavis said, taking over and trying to fix the situation. "We have things we need to do."
The brunette vampire looked between the family members, clearly not pleased. "But surely you can stay to see how the inspection goes? And I would very much like to talk to the famous Count Dracula's daughter…and his grandchildren, of course."
The kids all looked at Mavis, too terrified to say anything in case it got them in more trouble. "Well," The dark-haired vampire started hesitantly. "I…we weren't planning on it, but…but I suppose we could stay a couple more days."
"Lovely," Ava flashed them a smile that was silkily sweet in a rather unpleasant way. "I'll see you around…oh, and please keep your kids under control."
As she stalked away, head held high in a regal pose, Mavis and the kids looked at each other nervously.
"Why did you say we could stay?" Lucy demanded to know, looking angry. "You know she doesn't like us for some reason!"
"She's awful," Jack agreed, a panicked expression on his face. "She's going to shut the hotel for no reason!"
"She scares me," Mina murmured, nuzzling into Lucy's neck. "I don't like her."
It was only then that Mavis realized her husband was still standing by the front desk, looking quite grey and as if he'd gone into shock. "Uhh…we'll talk later," She decided, trying to think of a way to get her husband alone for a moment. "Why don't you guys find a zombie to take our stuff back to our rooms, and I'll meet you up there? Oh, and you two," She narrowed her eyes slightly at her two eldest. "We will be talking about you not watching your sister later." Lucy and Jack sighed but nodded, already turning around and slowly walking back to where they'd left all of their bags.
Mavis took a few steps towards Johnny, resisting the urge to sigh when she realized he was slumped over. "You know she won't do anything," She said quietly, stopping in front of him. "My dad won't let her…and besides, she was wrong about the whole human thing, so there's no reason to be upset over that."
Johnny just shrugged, looking quite put out. "Yeah, but…I'm a vampire. And, like, how does she know I used to be human?"
"Uhh…maybe because I'm the Count Dracula's daughter," Mavis stated as if it were obvious - which it was to her. "You know how the monster tabloids like to report about me…they can't get much on Dad, since he hardly leaves and he's too busy for interviews, so they try going for me." She put a hand in his, giving it a tight, comforting squeeze. "Come on, we've got to unpack again. It looks like we're going to be staying another few days."
The red-head brightened up at this. "So does this mean I can beat you in a chicken-fight?"
Mavis smirked as they started to walk, hand-in-hand. "Only in your dreams."
So...this one was a little longer than the last two - that's because pretty much all of the last section is taken from the "A-Z of a Life" story which this one is based on. I guess I should say sorry to anyone who has had to re-read that for the purpose of this story, but there won't be anything else from the original "Unfair" for a VERY long time now.
I'd like to just say a big thank you to those who are reviewing, favouriting, following or any combination of the above when it comes to this story - it's really putting a smile on my face! I'd also like to give a special thank you to Sondardo for PMing me ideas - they're really helping me when it comes to future events in the story!
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter - I'll try to write another one for either tomorrow or Thursday.
