The group met up in the dining hall. Dennis stayed with Dracula at all times. He half concealed him with his cloak, the same way he used to with Mavis when she was younger. It was eerie how silent the place was. There wasn't much desire to speak. It was a mutual understanding for what everyone was feeling, after all, every Monster had experienced it. Although they couldn't see Griffin or the other ghosts, they all knew that they had the same look of depression on their faces. Dracula watched as half of his guests continued to move back and forth. It was a comforting sight to see the Human guests retrieving refreshments for them.

"This is the start Drac. It's happening again." Frank was the first to break the silence.

"What's happening?" Dennis asked him.

"The spiral before disaster."

Dennis had been there and seen it all. He knew about Eustice Chaise. There was little point in hiding their dark past from him now.

"He's right. Every time something disastrous happens to us, we are always made to feel powerless or fearful." Wayne agreed.

Dracula held onto Dennis tightly. Johnny sat beside them, but Mavis was by Frank and Eunice.

"This Eldritch King indirectly spoke to Dennis. He fed him poison about… Eustice Chaise. It's always us. These attacks, these struggles always fixate on us. Martha, Mavis, me… now Dennis." Dracula said to them.

"Maybe something is trying to draw us out." Griffin suggested. "Think about it. The Court of Skulls wants Monster dominance. This Hotel has united us together with Humans. It's a symbol of what they are trying to destroy. Dennis is a union of Monster and Human so he makes a good target."

"That's enough Griffin! My son isn't something for them to use! He isn't like them!"

Mavis pushed her chair away and stomped out of the room. Dracula tried to follow her but Johnny pressed his hand on his caped shoulder.

"Don't worry Drac, I'll sort this out."

The Count had the feeling that they were keeping something from him. Out in the corridor Johnny met up with her. She leant against the wall with her elbows in her hands.

"What you told me upstairs, it's all just visions meant to scare you. They don't mean anything."

"Don't they? This Eldritch King wants us to be in control, so why did he do this to us? He was showing me what I've feared was true for years."

Johnny was scared for her. She was keeping something secret from him.

"What are you scared of?" he asked softly.

She sighed.

"We spent Dennis' first few years thinking the world of him. I still do, but it made me forget what I said to you the night you proposed to me. If we ever had a son, a hybrid, could he be like the last?"

Johnny was sure, emphatically, that Dennis could never be like that.

"That's nonsense Mavis. Dennis is our son, our loved son. He could never become like Eustice."

"Really? Have you ever seen Dennis like that before in his room? Did you think he was capable for that before today?"

She was making sense. It was the first time Johnny began to have doubts. Still, he refused to believe it.

"Why are you scared of this now?" he asked.

"Because I saw what I dread the most. I saw Eustice's cloak, only it wasn't him under it. It was Dennis."

Johnny wiped away a tear that had formed on her cheek.

"They're trying to trick you. Don't let that vision tear you away from our son."

"But is it a trick? They all saw the past! You heard them in there. Aunt and Uncle saw the day they saved my life when I was only five. Dad saw me… he saw me die. Everything they saw has happened, or has at least been shown to them in the past, all except me."

Back inside the hall, the group continued to discuss what had happened.

"They have been out there a while." Murray mentioned. "You know Drac, Mavis hasn't told us what she saw."

Dracula hadn't asked her since it first happened because he had already guessed. The thing a parent can fear the most besides their child's death is seeing them become evil.

"I think it's best if she doesn't." Dracula answered.

In that moment, a suit of armour approached the main table.

"Sir, there is a new guest trying to check in."

A new guest had not been arranged. Everyone who was able to come had already arrived. Dracula stood up at once and made his way to the front desk. Vlad, who had been silent till this point also left his seat and followed his son.

"Perhaps the traffic was bad." Murray tried to lighten the mood.

Dracula was surprised to encounter an elderly woman at the front desk.

"I'm afraid we are fully booked tonight. Besides, this isn't the best time."

"No Count Dracula, this has always been the time."

The woman pulled down the hood of her brown cloak to show her face. It was frail. Dracula was certain that she was no Human.

"Did you not experience what just happened? Surely you want to be with your family?" Dracula was confused by this woman's sense of calm.

"There is no family for me. This is where I need to be."

Dracula looked through the books for a spare room.

"We have one room, but it is still under renovation."

"I know. It will be more than sufficient."

Dracula was starting to catch on.

"You are an oracle, aren't you?" he asked her.

"Many of my abilities have faded over the years. The path I need to tread, I first saw it centuries ago."

Vlad watched on from above the stairs. He couldn't help but feel that he had seen this person before.

"You're welcome to join us for some food."

She gave a small smile and followed on. This woman made Vlad think back, far back when he was a different person himself. He had kept silent for fear that they would all hate him. He remembered the name Eustice Chaise. He knew what had become of the boy that was once Jeremiah Constantin. Not only that, he know what he did to his son and how Jeremiah had come to be the person capable of it. He lingered behind them. Dracula gave him a questioning glance as he passed him.

"So, what has brought you here? Apart from our luxury service of course." Dracula tried to make small talk even though he had no desire to.

"I've relived this moment in my dreams. I saw it so long ago. Now that it is here, I find it hard to say."

Dracula stopped walking.

"Saw it long ago?" he asked.

"In the eyes of a frightened boy torn between two worlds."

Dracula's stared at her in a bewilderment.

"You… he…"

"Just fifteen years old, he fled with the girl he loved to escape the war. Now that war has been rekindled. I saw this moment in his destiny. He brought you all here. The hotel exists because of him."

"Dad."

Mavis and the others watched on from down the hallway. They had heard what she had said.

"That 'boy' was the true Monster."

"He made a choice. It affected everyone. I warned him, knowing well enough that he would not heed my advice. Still, I made a choice of my own. I let him go. I let history unfold."

"You could have stopped him!" Mavis shouted at her.

"This Hotel would not exist! Humanity and Monster kind would be locked in war for eternity! All of this was meant to come to pass."

Dennis stepped forward.

"Wait son." Johnny tried to pull him back but he broke free.

"Who are you?" he asked her.

"The more important question my dear… is who are you?"

He didn't have an answer.

"I don't know… I'm not going to be like him am I?"

She leant down, keeping her balance on her cane.

"Only if you choose to be."

Calm had taken over the castle once again. The oracle told them only why she had come to them. When the Eldritch King first rose to power, he was brought low by five guardians. Five more banded together at the time of his prophesized resurrection, but their lives were cut short before they could finish their task. Now, she has foreseen a time when five new guardians would rise.

Mavis felt the cold chill of the night air against her skin. She stood alone in the graveyards outside the castle. She admired the craftwork on the Mausoleum. Above the archway was a single name.

"Kathleen." Mavis read out loud.

"You haven't been here for a while." She heard her husband's voice.

"Technically, I barely knew her."

"Technically, you knew her better than you remember now. Your first friend is a soul to cherish."

They held hands.

"She saved my life. Twice he took her away; the same, wicked man who took my Mother. I don't believe that he ever loved her. No one could murder the one they love with all their heart. A zing is something pure."

"Ours is. I know it."

She rested her head on his arm.

"Can't we just be at peace? I want it to all to go back to how it once was. I want my Mum to see Dennis. I wish Eustice had never existed."

Dracula watched on from a distance. He stood at the end of the bridge closest to the hotel. Beside him was Vlad. Guilt began to eat at him.

"Son... I… haven't been honest with you." Vlad began.

"We both kept secrets from each other." Dracula answered.

"Yours's were more than fair. I however, haven't been. All this suffering, all this pain you have all felt. It's my fault."

He turned to him slowly.

"You're fault? How is any of it you're fault?"

"Jeremiah. That's why."

Dracula didn't know where he was going but he definitely felt uncomfortable.

"You met him once didn't you, as a boy? You met him because of me. He became what he was because of me. I pushed Vincent towards the war. I supported him with his plan to use the Constantin boy as a weapon."

Dracula was silent.

"I was a different person then. I'm not proud of any of it. I didn't plan what happened to you. I never wanted to hurt you or your wife."

"Her name… is… Martha." Dracula's eyes began to glow red.

"You know what Humanity was back like then! Something had to be done! You heard her in there. All of this was meant to happen."

Dracula span round, punching Vlad square in the jaw. The force of the attack sent him flying backwards. There was a loud crash as stone split apart on impact. He broke a trail across the bridge before finally stopping on his back. Dracula showed no emotion, he simply turned and walked away. Vlad held his jaw, unable to believe what his son had just done.