Chapter 10

Over the years, the hotel rooftop had become legendary to Johnny and Mavis' kids; each of them knew what this particular place of the hotel had meant, what memories it held, and so took the opportunity to sit on it whenever they could. Gazing out at the sky had become calming for them, something to do in times of stress or anxiousness.

Getting to the rooftop wasn't the hard part, especially when you're a vampire - not falling off was.

Freddie let out a laugh as he slid down some tiles and fell backwards into a sitting position. "Wow! This is so much fun!"

Lucy, who had been on the rooftop more times than she could count, was far more used to having to stay steady and watched his fumbling in amusement. "You mean you've never been on a rooftop before? Ever?"

"Nope!" He answered giddily, standing up and wobbling a little. "My uncle and I never thought about doing this kind of thing... Wow! Look at the view from here!"

"This is pretty great," She agreed, nodding and walking down the tiles to stand next to him as they looked out over the landscape in front of them. "But have you ever seen a sunrise before?"

Freddie turned to her, surprised. "No. Have you?"

"Yes," She admitted. "Lots of times. My Mom and Dad...after they first met they watched sunrises together from up here and it kind of helped them fall in love." She sat down and gestured for him to join her. "They started bringing me up here just after I turned sixty - before then they said I was too young." The red-head laughed at the memory. "I was really scared at first, because I was always told that the Sun was awful and scary...and it is in a way. But it's also really beautiful...the way it casts light across a once dark land is just surreal."

Freddie carefully lowered himself down next to her and stared in wonder. "That's really nice," He told her, eyes wide as he took it all in. "I've never really thought about it like that. So when you watch a sunrise...how do you do it? I mean, the Sun burns and kills us, so I thought it was impossible."

"I know," Lucy agreed, getting an image in her head of what had happened to Mina recently and trying not to shudder. "But my Mom and Dad taught me how to be really careful about it - like, you can hide behind a chimney or something. You've just got to make sure you can find a way inside before the Sun fully rises." She looked at him with a small smile on her face. "So, besides being a waiter and kitchen garbage boy, what do you like doing?"

The other red-head shrugged. "Oh, you know...stuff." She sent him an expectant look, waiting for a real answer. "Okay, fine. I like talking to people - even though that kinda makes me nervous sometimes." He paused for a moment, thinking about it before continuing. "I don't really know. I kind of just want to make people happy."

"That's really sweet," Lucy murmured, surprised by this answer: she was expecting him to say something like, 'chilling out' or 'playing games' like all guys she had met...it was a nice change, she decided.

"And what about you?" Freddie asked curiously, grinning in a way that sent butterflies spiralling around in her belly.

Lucy quickly thought hard, not sure what to say - there was the truth and there was what she thought most guys would want her to say...she immediately decided the truth was the best way to go. "I usually just hang out with a friend of mine or with my brother and sister," She said modestly. "I'm not really an interesting person."

"Well, hey, neither am I," Freddie assured her, shrugging to himself. "But what's wrong with that? Besides, I think you're pretty cool." She looked away, smiling to herself widely, while his eyes just widened in surprise at his own words. "I mean...you are cool...I mean..."

"Thanks," She laughed, putting an end to his nervous rambling. "No one's ever called me 'cool' before, so I'm going to take that as a compliment."

His shoulders slumped out of relief and his grin returned, clearly glad that she hadn't reacted badly in any way. "Okay, good..." He cleared his throat before speaking again, trying to regain some confidence. "So, how long are you guys staying here for?"

"I don't know. It's probably going to be until after that hotel inspector leaves," Lucy mused. "My mom always worries about inspections - this is where she grew up, so I guess I can see why she'd want to see how it goes." She sighed to herself, eyes trained to the forest below them. "I really hope it goes well...the last few times we could just tell it was going to be okay, and we weren't even here. This time though, I really don't know how it's going to go."

Freddie could see how much this was upsetting her - you didn't have to be a genius to notice the glazed over look in her eyes or the frown etched across her face. "I'm sure it will be fine," He quietly said. "I've worked at loads of places - hotels, restaurants, everywhere - and this hotel is one of the best places I've gotten to work at."

Lucy looked at him; the sincere smile on his face, the kind look in his eyes, everything added up to him telling what he believed to be the truth, that he wasn't lying for her sake. "Thank You." She sent him a grateful smile. "How do you lose so many jobs anyway?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Uhmm...well...I'm kinda clumsy, so...that's probably a reason."

"Just because you're clumsy?"

"Well, it's hard to trust someone to clean up when they knock over everything in sight," He mused light-heartedly, although there was a kind of resentfulness behind it. "I'm lucky to get this one...at least that's what my Uncle says. That's why I've got to be extra careful now, so that I don't mess it up."

Lucy couldn't help but smile even more at his words. "Don't worry about it - my Grandpa won't fire you if you break something, you know. I mean, have you seen some of the zombies he's employed?" She snorted to herself, remembering certain ones. "Let's put it this way, they're not the brightest... When I was little, one of them thought that one of my toys was an actual animal and tried to eat it."

Freddie laughed at her description. "Okay, I've never done that before!"

"Then I'd say that you're safe," She decided firmly. "Seriously, my Grandpa is just a big old softie at heart; he won't fire you just for dropping a few plates."

For a few minutes the two red-haired vampires sat in companionable silence, just enjoying each other's company and the feel of the cool air around them. When Freddie looked up, he was smiling in a soft and relaxed way. "I'm really glad you asked me to hang out tonight," He told her sincerely. "I've had a lot of fun."

Lucy grinned back, suddenly feeling giddy and happy to be spending time with him. "Well, thanks for agreeing to hang out. I've had a lot of fun too."

Instinctively she moved closer to him, so that their bodies were inches apart, and the two continued to look at each other with wide eyes and childishly happy expressions. For a moment Lucy found her eyes darting down to look at Freddie's lips; when she realized what she was doing, she quickly looked back up again.

"I...uhmm..." Freddie mumbled, breaking the spell around them nervously - he'd seen where her eyes had trailed to. "I better get back to the kitchen...my Uncle, he told me I had to finish doing...uhm...stuff."

"Oh," Lucy said lightly, watching him as he stood up. "Okay. Well...can we maybe hang out later or something?"

He paused for a second before looking down at her and nodding. "Sure. I'll come and find you later, alright?"

She nodded, watching as the other vampire morphed into a bat and flew off the roof. Deep down, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that their time had been cut short...

But she was also pleased that, during the little time they'd spent together, there was something there...something special.

Thankfully after a full day's rest, Mina was feeling much better; the only thing she wanted to do was eat and have a fun night to take her mind off of the pool incident. Okay, sure, her skin still felt a little sore and irritated in certain areas, but she could feel her body working to help her heal and it wasn't so bad; she just wanted to hang out with her family.

However, things didn't exactly go according to her plans. Sometime after lunch that night, Lucy disappeared to go somewhere - Mina wasn't too sure - and was therefore unable to spend time with her; Jack also declined, saying that he was going to help with the upcoming party occurring the next night. Even worse was when Freddie also disappeared from the dining hall downstairs after lunch, leaving the child with no idea where he had gone on such short notice.

This left her to hang out with her parents - of course, she didn't find this too bad really since she loved both of them dearly. However, halfway through the night, Mavis suddenly left Johnny and Mina to retreat back to her bedroom while complaining of a sore stomach.

"I'm fine," Mavis hurriedly assured them, standing up and holding her stomach while trying not to wince too much. "Really - I need to lie down."

Mina, who was young and didn't know anything about pregnancies or what was good or bad in them, just shrugged and turned back to her game on the floor. Johnny, however, looked rather alarmed that his wife was reacting in such a way. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you? You know, just in case?"

"I told you, I'm fine," She repeated quickly, already walking away. "You guys just carry on playing and I'll come down later."

Johnny watched after her worriedly, suddenly not very sure that everything would be okay; he'd never seen her like this before, especially not when pregnant. Mina frowned when she realized that her father had stopped playing and reached over to tug at his shirt sleeve. "Daddy? Hello? Are we going to finish the story of the house taken over by animals or not?"

He gave a nod, slowly trying to focus his mind on something besides Mavis and her stomach hurting. "Yeah, sure."

Mina turned back to the dollhouse that they were playing with and pointed at various pieces. "So, right now the rats have tied up the humans and put them up in the attic...see, the ladder is down, so the humans can't get out because they'd fall and die." When she looked back at her father, he was still somewhat distracted. "Daddy?!"

"Yeah, I'm listening," He mumbled, looking down at the floor as he thought to himself. "Something about bats?"

"Rats, Daddy," She corrected before folding her arms. "What's wrong? You look sad."

Finally, Johnny gave her a small smile. "Nah, I'm just thinking about some stuff."

"Is it because Mommy isn't feeling well?" Mina asked knowingly, and he nodded. "She's going to be fine - she's going to lie down and sleep and then everything will be okay again. That's what always happens in stories, right?"

He nodded, putting on the biggest smile that he could muster - the last thing his daughter needed right now was to worry or be upset in any way. "Right, yeah! So...the rats have tied up the family, right? Then what?"

"Now the animals are living in the house," She stated. "The lions are living in the kids' bedroom, the fish and piranhas are living in the bathroom, because of the water, and then all of the other animals are just hanging around. Got it?"

Johnny nodded and continued to help his daughter act out the scenario in front of them; deep down, he couldn't help but worry that...just maybe...everything wasn't going to be okay.

The party could not have started any better.

It seemed that, during the day leading up to it, the downstairs bar had been transformed - guests walked in to music already playing, a bartender ready to mix cocktails and a buffet table already set up for when they grew hungry. Even monsters who didn't know what the occasion was felt the excited party atmosphere immediately and were soon happy to join in on the celebration.

Among the many guests, of course, were Mavis' uncles and aunts; they immediately surrounded the couple when they arrived at the party, talking excitedly.

"Man!" Frank whistled as he downed a large glass of some kind of alcohol. "Another kid! That's so...weird!"

"I can still remember when you were this high," Griffin agreed fondly, gesturing invisibly to everyone. "You sure have grown, kiddo!"

"So how many is it now?" Wanda asked curiously - she had been there to help deliver their first child, and was interested to know exactly how many had been born since.

Mavis smiled, somewhat overwhelmed by all of this attention. "This is four."

Wayne let out a low whistle. "Wow...Johnny, can I give you a piece of advice?" Johnny nodded. "Be careful, okay? Seriously, look how many I ended up with - you do not want to be stuck in that situation."

If the two of them could have blushed than they would have.

"Are we placing any bets this year?" Murray asked suddenly, and Mavis turned to look at her husband in confusion.

He smiled sheepishly. "What?"

"You've been betting on what sex the baby is?" She asked, surprised and shocked. "Seriously?"

"Well, it passes the time," He defended, shrugging. "I mean, it's fun...and besides, I won last time."

Griffin snorted. "Please! It was a lucky guess!"

"If we're doing the betting thing, I'm betting on a boy," Frank interjected.

"I'm not betting," Eunice stated loudly. "But I hope it's a girl - the last two were adorable!"

Mavis just shook her head, not quite understanding why they had to bet on it - it's not like it would have determined what the baby was going to be in any way. Still...she supposed it was kind of annoying, not being able to know until the actual birth part was over.

Across the room, the kids had split up from their parents and were joining in with the mass of monsters dancing; Lucy and Jack took turns holding hands with their younger sister, doing silly little dances to make her giggle underneath the lights.

"I wish we could do this all the time!" She shouted to them over the loud music, laughing when her brother spun her under his arm. "This is so much fun!"

"Man, I can't even remember the last time we had a party," Jack thought aloud, and his sisters nearly couldn't hear him. "It must have been just after you turned a hundred, Lu..."

He spun his little sister outwards so that she could dance with Lucy - however, the youngest child stopped dancing and her mouth fell open in a wide grin. "FREDDIE!"

Her older siblings watched after her as she ran through the crowd and up to the tall lanky vampire; he grinned back at Mina and bent down so that he could give her a hug. "Hey there, lil' bat! How's it going?"

"You came," She stated breathlessly, face alive with excitement. "You came, you actually came!"

"I sure did! Did you think I'd miss out on something like this?"

He straightened up just as she grabbed his hands and started to pull him over to where her siblings were watching. "Come on, come and dance with us!"

Freddie's smile faltered a little at the prospect of having to dance but he let her drag him to the other vampires. "Hey," He greeted nervously, eyes lingering on Lucy for a moment that was way too long to be normal. "So..."

"We can pair up!" Mina exclaimed, practically bouncing on the spot. "You can pair up with me, and then Lucy and Jack can be together because they're both boring teenagers!"

Jack glared at her half-heartedly. "Well, I'm certainly not dancing with you now that you've just said that."

Lucy hurriedly grabbed her brother and nodded at her younger sister. "Yeah, alright! That's cool."

Jack shot her a confused look but reluctantly started swaying on the spot with her awkwardly. "What the He-"

"I think I like him," The red-head blurted, cringing on the spot after she'd said it. "What do I do?"

"What do you mean you 'like him'?" Her brother questioned in disbelief.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "I mean I think I'm in love with him, you idiot."

"Man...and to think, I was only kidding about the crush thing," The younger vampire muttered, eyes wide. "Why do you think you're in love with him then? What's so special?"

"I...I don't know. I just, I get the feeling that...that he's special," She admitted and they stopped swaying on the spot as they continued to talk. "We were on the rooftop yesterday night and we just...we connected, you know? And then I swear I felt something when I looked at him the other night, when he crashed into me. Like a jolt, like...like..."

"Like a zing," Jack finished, and she nodded. "Jeesh, Lu...I know I told you that you'd find your zing, but this young?" He peered over at Freddie, who was goofily dancing with their younger sister clumsily. "How old is he? He looks a lot older than you."

"He is; he's a fully-grown vampire and he has been for years now." She sighed. "What do I do?"

The younger vampire just bit his lip thoughtfully. "I don't know...I mean, I've never been in this kind of situation before, so..." He looked back at the vampire man in question, mulling his thoughts over in his head. "I guess the only thing you can do is wait to see if he feels the same before jumping straight into it."

"You're right," Lucy agreed hesitantly - it hadn't even occurred to her that there was a chance she was completely wrong and that he didn't like her back.

I guess I'm going to have to find out.

"I'm tired!" Mina called up to Freddie, stifling a yawn. "Can I go to the bathroom and come back?"

He nodded. "Yeah, of course!"

Mina gestured for him to bend down, so that they could be eye-level, and didn't speak again until he had lowered himself next to her. "While I go, you can dance with Lucy; she really likes it, but she never has anyone to dance with."

Freddie nervously eyed up the other vampire from across the room; Lucy and Jack had long decided to stop dancing and were now sitting at a table talking with a couple glasses of monster soda. "I...uhmm...sure."

As Mina pushed her way through the crowd of monsters, Freddie straightened up and took a few deep breaths before starting to make his way over to the table that Lucy was sat at. He didn't even know why he was nervous...well, besides the fact that whenever he danced he constantly worried about knocking someone's fangs out...

"Hey," He greeted shyly, stopping at the table and looking down at Lucy nervously. She seemed surprised that he had come over to talk to her but waited patiently for him to figure out the words he wanted to say. "So...uhmm...Mina went to the bathroom, and I was just wondering...if you'd dance with me. Not that you have to, of course! I mean, if you'd rather not then I completely underst-"

"I'd love to," Lucy interrupted, standing up and smiling at him brightly.

As they walked back to the dance floor, they heard Jack call a, "Have fun!" cheekily but ignored him - both of them were kind of nervous about dancing, considering that neither of them were particularly graceful.

A new song came on and, much to their embarrassment, it was a slow song. "We can wait until the next one comes on," Freddie blurted before panicking again. "Not that I don't want to slow-dance with you! I mean, I'm sure you're very good at it...well, in a manner of speaking..."

"You ramble a lot when you're nervous," She remarked good-naturedly, and he was relieved to see that she was amused. "Come on, I want to dance to this one."

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While you're far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Very moment spent with you is a moment I treasure

It was awkward at first, to say the least; neither of them had ever slow-danced properly with someone of the opposite sex, so for the first few lines it was merely hands positioning themselves in the right places. After that they had to try and work out a way to sway properly in a way that wouldn't cause either of them to have an accident.

"Is this okay?" Freddie asked anxiously.

Lucy gave a laugh. "Yes! Is this okay with you?"

He grinned widely. "I think so."

Don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, baby
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream would never do
I'd still miss you, baby
And I don't wanna miss a thing

This was a human song so neither of them knew it that well - Lucy knew it a little better simply because her Dad had played it all the time around the house (usually when trying to woo her Mom in some way). However, they could both guess that it was a romantic song and Freddie was sure that he would have blushed if he could have; he wasn't good with girls in any way and he was terrified that he'd ruin it at any moment.

But then she leaned in closer to him, hand tightly gripping his and her mouth forming a breath-taking smile that could only be from the feeling of being content. He continued to grin down at her, hyper-aware of the feel of her body in his arms, her weight against his.

Lying close to you feeling your heart beating
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming,
Wondering if it's me you're seeing
Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together
And I just wanna stay with you
In this moment forever, forever and ever

Boy, did they want to stay in that moment forever...the feelings were so raw, so passionate...

Lucy leaned in even closer to him, and for one crazy moment Freddie thought that she was going to kiss him there and then - it was only when she simply laid her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes and enjoying the dance, that he realized he had actually wanted her to.

Mina hummed as she stood on her tiptoes and washed her hands in the sink; she couldn't wait to get back to the party and dance with her friend again, so she quickly rinsed her hands and turned the tap off.

It was only when she was heading for the door that she heard someone let out a sob.

Turning back around, Mina peered around the bathroom anxiously. "Hello?" She called, looking around.

The only reply was another choked out sob.

Maybe someone's hurt...I should go and help them.

If she was one thing, it was brave - after all, she was Dracula's granddaughter - and so she started to peek under the different stalls for any sign of someone else, someone who needed her help desperately. She saw a pair of feet in the end stall and looked underneath all of the overs quickly - no one else was in them. Deciding that she'd probably found the hurt monster, she started to walk towards the end stall. "Hey there! Are you ok-"

Mina stopped dead in her tracks as the stench hit her - it was acrid, a burning smell that she knew too well. It was a smell that was usually concentrated and dilated so that it wouldn't be too fatty to drink...a smell that she immediately knew.

Blood.

The door to the stall was open, she could tell, and she immediately worried that the injured monster had been in so much pain that they hadn't been able to even lock the toilet door behind them. Still, it would help her help them, so she took a few tentative steps forwards. "H-Hello? C-Can you speak to me?"

A choke sounded and the vampire child shuddered to herself from both the noise and the stench assaulting her senses and making her dizzy: she had no choice. She was going to have to open the door herself and find out for herself what was going on.

Taking a deep breath, Mina placed her hands on the wood of the door and pushed it open.

The song was drawing to a close, and the two red-haired vampires just gazed at each other with unsure expressions - now what?

"I...uhmm..." Freddie mumbled, not knowing what to do next. "Thank You...for dancing with me."

"Thanks for asking," Lucy said softly, and once again she found that her eyes were drawn to his lips...she badly wanted to kiss him, she really did. "I...I have something to tell you."

Freddie looked down at her, waiting patiently. "Alright. What is it?"

Lucy opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by the sound of sobbing - she'd heard enough of it the last few days to know immediately who it was. "Mina?"

The older vampire's smile disappeared as they pulled away and looked around. All of the other monsters had stopped dancing, and everyone was muttering as they tried to figure out why Mina was screaming and crying so much.

"We've got to get to her," Freddie stated, and the two pushed their way through the crowd hurriedly; both of them cared about the child and were suddenly terrified to see what was wrong with her...after all this week, she shouldn't have had to put up with another incident...

By the time they managed to make their way over to her, Mina had flung herself in her father's arms and was clutching onto him tightly as she sobbed hard. Johnny rubbed circles on her back soothingly with his fingers and just gently hugged her back. "What's the matter, kiddo?" He asked softly, eyes wide at how sudden the whole thing had been. "Are you alright?"

She shook her head, eyes squeezed shut. "I...I...I s-s-s-saw it...D-D-Daddy, m-make it go a-a-away!"

"Make what go away?" He asked cluelessly as Count Dracula appeared and bent down beside them to see what was wrong with his granddaughter. "What's wrong?"

Mina opened her eyes and let out a sob. "T-T-There was s-s-so much b-b-blood..."

This immediately sent waves of alarm through the crowd, and everyone looked around at each other worriedly. Dracula was alert instantly. "Blood? Where? Who's hurt, Mina?"

She pulled away, eyes watering and bottom lip trembling. "I-I-In the bathroom...I-I-I heard s-s-someone crying, s-so I went t-to see what was wrong...a-a-a-and..." A fresh wave of tears rolled down her cheeks and she immediately hid her face in Johnny's neck. "I'm s-scared."

"Who is hurt?" Dracula insisted, suddenly terrified; the thought of anyone being hurt and alone in his hotel was not pleasant, since the reason he'd built the hotel in the first place was to prevent this kind of thing from happening. "Baby-bat, please tell us!"

Mina sniffled loudly, and although her words were muffled it was crystal clear what she was saying. "I-It's Mommy...she's sitting in the toilet...a-a-and th-there's so much b-b-blood!"