another chap... wanted to thanks to wallacb and spyro, as always, cause their support, and give a warm welcome to bigghosts and of course to all of you for reading and review :)
thanks for all PM... history is increasingly capturing your interest... and i love it :)
Cap 8. - A loss irreplaceable
The first rays of morning sun crested above the mountain formations that surrounded the castle, bathing the landscape in an amber color giving it an unknown look to most of the fortification's tenants.
In normal conditions every occupant would have been in their beds hours ago, but the last two days weren't normal since the tragedy met by a young guest had occurred. From that the news spread, the hotel was sunk in a respectful but uneasy silence that no one could get used to.
The count was going up the stairs past the reception where he waved off the last group of human hosts that arranged to depart since the weekend ended, so they must return to work and normal duties, expressing their regrets to the count before leaving.
Heading to the corridor that led to stairs, the vampire crossed looks with residents who directed their gaze to the floor with gelid gestures, starting up the stairs with the only sound being that of his footsteps on the red carpet cushioned marble, and the faint sound of movement from the flames on the black wax candles placed in brass chandeliers.
He had an empty feeling he seldom felt in the castle while advancing stair to stair reaching the upper floor in a few seconds that seemed like ages. This lack of joy and life in the hotel was only felt when he thought he would lose all of his friends when they discovered years ago the true nature of who would become his son-in-law.
"Dad!" - The count heard finally reaching the top floor landing finding the Stein couple, a floating pair of glasses that revealed Griffin´s presence, his daughter and her decayed husband who had Frank's hand over his shoulder in an attempt to infuse him with strength. Mavis stepped beside her Aunt Wanda to run into her father arms controlling her sobs.
"I know, sweet fangs, I know" – her father said without knowing what to add, stroking her hair, keeping everyone in silence again for a few minutes.
"And Winnie?" - The host asked finally thinking how devastating the experience could be to his niece, knowing that she and the youngster had "connected" by reports from the armors. Winnie was strong but who could know the pain she was suffering?
"Still not out from the room" – Wanda almost whispered hugging herself, leaning on the cold wall of the narrow hall lit by candles since all the windows were covered with tapestries and curtains guarding their occupants, for some of them, sunlight was lethal.
Mavis stepped back a few steps inviting her father to go to the room which was a few meters ahead with a half-opened door.
Drac headed to the door opening it more, entering with cautious steps into the room plunged in hollow silence, stopping in front of the bed where the sleeping girl´s half body was lying. He sat in a chair, with his face resting on his arms. The exhaustion certainly beat her, he thought while he covered her with a small black blanket folded into 4 parts, extracted from the old bedroom closet. A heart broken by a loss was something he prayed never to see ever again.
".. whe ... re?" he heard a few feet from Winnie, subtly moving the figure under the cover-bed, on which the man was thrown.
Dracula was surprised for a moment, scrolling in a microsecond to the entrance of the room alerting his friends.
"He has awakened!" He cried with relief through the hallway. Before almost finishing the sentence the group began to enter the room in droves almost breaking the doorframe from trying to enter more than one at a time. The young vampires were the first to approach the cot almost jumping with joy, leaning on the bed where Danny lay, and looking at him with happy looks while griffin´s floating glasses were vibrating with excitement. Behind them Frank hugged his wife thinking he couldn't endure it if she were the one who was found in that situation. And that mixture of relief and happiness caused him to short circuit.
- "He has awakened!"
- "He has awakened!"
- "He has awakened!"
- ….
The shrunken heads hanging from the doorknobs of hotel rooms began to advertise it in a chain through the different corridors, assisted by the armors making the news reach the innermost corners of the castle causing a burst of joy and relief in hotel's clients and the rest of the friends who spent the time waiting on the terrace without being able to eat anything.
Just a couple of minutes had passed since the boy started to open his eyes until they joined all together in the room while Winnie remained asleep as a result of exhaustion being unaware about what was going on around her.
"Leave him room to breathe" – newcomer Wanda said slightly pushing them away.
Danny still had half closed eyes. His head ached intensely and it was hard to think clearly, but he started to become aware of what was happening.
"W... what happened ...?" He asked with a confused tone.
"You ran off of the road" Johnny explained with a soothing voice to prevent the young one from becoming shocked. "You got lucky, if it was not for the belt and the airbag ... the collision with the tree would have been ..." he interrupted the sentence without wanting to finish.
"Air-what?" Drac softly said to himself, arching his left eyebrow, making a mental note to ask what Johnny was talking about, unable to understand the conversation.
H-How? ... Did I get here?
"Thank her for that" Johnny said almost laughing from the emotions pointing to the still sleeping Winnie. "It is not the first time her tracking ability saved someone."
"She knew that something bad happened as she heard a loud crash coming from the forest" - Mavis explained, also with undisguised joy, mentioning wolf-girl´s sharp ear. "Before we knew it, she ventured in a hurry into the woods with that bad feeling."
"It was a shock to see her through the hall door carrying you unconscious"- added the Count causing Dan to touch the bandage that was placed around his head to protect the affected area - "Fortunately, it was only a mild concussion." The vampire quickly said to reassure him.
"How long ….have I been like this?" Asked Danny tenderly stroking Winnie´s hair while she was still asleep exhausted. He watched her with kindness and gratefulness although he didn't like to be seen in this state.
"Two days" said Wanda, laying her hand on the boy´s hand still checking the bandage under Wayne's strange look as he still didn't understand that trust towards humans he said "Winnie has not been taken from you for a second."
"Mmmmm ... what's all this noise?" - Winnie noticed that something was happening around her but she was unable to wake up; everything that happened in last days and the mixture of emotions had affected her. Although she promised not to leave the human who charmed her, she was unable to stay awake. She had to make an act of willpower to get up perceiving through still blurred sight that she was surrounded by people ... - "What's going on?" – She thought even leaning over the bed rubbing her eyes with her arm.
"Finally ... you had us worried." She heard a joking male voice at her side causing almost nervous laughter of those around them when they saw the face of the girl opening her eyes wide to check who came that voice came from.
After overcoming the initial shock, Winnie moved her head away from the youngster's stroking to swoop and circling him with her arms under the increasingly confused look from her father who was the only one that disowned the situation between the two youngsters.
- "Thanks" - Danny whispered softly after a moment before feeling Winnie's lips seal against his in a soft, short kiss causing her father to open his mouth in surprise.
The truth is that Dan was uncomfortable ...he wasn't someone who had had frequent affection throughout his life and to find that wave of love and support from all of them was something that he wasn't used to.
"I'm afraid I still can't leave the hotel ... you'll have to stand by me a little more." joked the boy making them smile.
"You can stay as long as you like," replied the centennial host resting his icy hand on the boy's shoulder who looked at him thoughtful.
"I think the bill is going to cause me more damage than that tree," Dan said in an amused tone.
"Please, I couldn't accept a single coin from you in this situation," the vampire smiling quickly cut the human off, who leaned back a little closing his eyes again feeling safe for the first time in his life… and loved.
"Monsters ..." He thought ironically, not only have they probably saved his life, they had opened the door of their house to him ... how many humans would have done that?
It was almost a bad-joke that humans show less humanity than those they call monsters.
"Our loved ones are irreplaceable" - thought Dracula looking winnie and Dan-"... Fortunately, sometimes they don't have to be replaced."
The room tzantza gained momentum swinging itself to close the room door leaving them in privacy.