Busted
Dracula's fears were confirmed not long after he and Elona, and now even Vlad returned to the Lounge for more Karaoke Night. Guests talked, whispered, and murmured about what they had seen happen, many worried or wondered if they should worry about Dracula and what he may be capable of.
When the threesome entered the Lounge, it went dead silent as all eyes were on Dracula, as he could only look back with his own awkward silence.
Dracula then found his gracious host mode, and said politely to his apprehensive guests,
"I'm so sorry about what happened earlier, everybody, you know I'm protective of my only daughter and I've been under a lot of stress lately with all of the accidents that happened. You know I have mood swings, but I let that one go too far, and I'm sorry. I promise it won't happen again, and you're perfectly safe with me."
There came a few murmurs from the small crowd of humans and monsters, even some polite applause, and everyone went back to trying to enjoying themselves as a few more monsters and humans did some more karaoke.
Vlad watched a few singers with Elona and Dracula for a while, but they finally convinced even him to get in on some of the fun of Karaoke Night and he sang a song called Twilight Time by the Platters.
Meanwhile, Quasimodo had heard what had happened and smirked maniacally to himself, knowing it was more useful information for him to use to fan the flames of doubt and fear already spreading among humans and monsters. Perhaps the best part of it was these rumors won't need much of his help to get started as talk of Dracula's frightening change had already taken hold and spread. All Quasimodo needed to do was nudge them in the right direction.
However, for Bela it was just another excuse for Quasimodo to delay further his empty promise of restoring the Bat Demon's full size, and he knew his chance may get away. He had to get Vlad to restore his size, as well as his rightful place as leader of his Bat Demon crew, and he needed to do it quickly.
Meanwhile, in their private suit of the hotel, Johnny and his family sat in silence for a time worrying for Dracula.
"Was that what you saw Johnny?" Mavis asked quietly, "What you saw my dad become a few nights ago?"
"I think so," he said low with some hesitation, "But that just happened so fast, and he just snarled or growled at me. But that, what he became in the Lounge, it was like he didn't just become a completely different person, but a…a…"
"A monster?" Mavis finished for him quietly.
Johnny hesitated for a long second, then finally said, "Yeah, and not the really cool kind, but something more dangerous, deadly even. I think I'm starting to understand why humans used to be afraid of Vampires for so long."
Mavis and Dennis gave him sad looks, but Johnny smiled at them in reassurance, then continued, "But never you guys you'll always be the funniest most wonderful Vampire I've ever met, Mavis, and the same for you, Little Dude."
They all smiled at each other in familial love.
Mavis became more somber again as she said quietly, "I just hope it doesn't happen again, and he tells us what's going on with him. You know he can be moody…"
"To put it mildly," Johnny quipped low.
"But that was pretty extreme, even for my dad," Mavis continued, "But then he has been pretty stressed lately, with all the weird accidents, you know. We need to help him, maybe get to the bottom of those accidents."
"Yeah," Johnny said with some growing suspicion, "I don't think they were really accidents, somebody had to be behind them."
It was then Dennis remembered something and asked his daddy for his phone.
Confused and curious to what their son was up to Johnny took out his iphone and let Dennis show him something, a suspicious video recorded from the other night.
In it, Mavis and Johnny saw Quasimodo in a storage room for fireworks and seemed to rearrange the various kinds of fireworks and other festive pyrotechnics really dangerously close and tightly together, even bags and packs of explosive powder. There came some movement from the one holding the phone, obviously Dennis from the height, and Winnie appeared momentarily as she and Dennis followed Quasimodo and saw him smirk maniacally as he rubbed his greasy hands together in anticipation of something as the shrunken Bela then appeared and handed Quasimodo a long wick or string from his feet as he fluttered up the hunchback. Quasimodo and Bela seemed to talk to each other for some moments, but the audio was a bit garbled as their came more movement on the screen as Dennis and Winnie said to other,
"Dump ol' Quasimodo is gonna wreck the fireworks, we gotta stop him."
"I got a better idea," Winnie said, "We'll turn his trick back on him, see how he likes it when it blows up in his face."
"Yeah," Dennis said enthused and sneakily as both kids giggled.
They set to rearranging a lot of fireworks, Dennis very easily with telekinetic powers with emerald green mist, and Winnie pushed some bigger rockets to point at Quasimodo and Bela.
There came some more rapid and random movement on the screen, then the camera was again on Quasimodo, this time a safe distance from in the air as the picture enhanced to show Quasimodo light the long wick. Less than a minute later bright, luminous, and flamboyant colored sparks and explosions sparked forth on the little screen, yet the family was still able to watch a rather big rocket soar through the air with an unintended and reluctant passenger, Quasimodo, to then follow its trajectory and exploded on one side of the grand hotel and leave a giant burn mark, making Johnny and Mavis flinch a bit in sympathy but also couldn't help but smile.
"Well, that explains a few things," Mavis mused.
Winnie's face appeared again and laughed as she said, "Oh man, that was too cool! Did you get it, Dennis, huh?"
"Oh, yeah!" cheered a little black bat with curly red hair.
Johnny stopped the video and looked at his son, Mavis didn't know whether to feel proud, or angry and disappointed, or a combination of all three.
"When did you take this, Dennis?" Johnny asked in a toneless voice.
"Just the other day," he said, suddenly unsure if he was in trouble.
"Well, maybe you should've shown this to us sooner, Sweetie," Mavis told him.
"I'm sorry, Mommy," Dennis said sadly, "I meant to, but I forgot. Winnie and me were having so much fun."
"It's okay, Little Dude," Johnny said reassuringly and easy going, "It doesn't matter now, but it matters that we show this to Drac right away."
"Yeah," Mavis agreed, "If Quasimodo was behind all those accidents, this is the proof we need."
They all soon left to find Dracula, and Mavis found him with her Far Sight powers, a bit surprisingly in the Lounge again about to sing a duet with Elona, a song called All I Ask of You from the classic musical The Phantom of the Opera, but in the version of Josh Groban and Kelly Clarkson:
Dracula:
No more talk of Darkness
Forget these wide eyed fears
I'm here, nothing can harm you
My words will warm and calm you
Let me be your freedom
Let daylight dry your tears
I'm here with you, beside you
To guard and to guide you
Elona:
Say you love me
Every waking moment
Turn my head with talk of Summertime
Say you need me with you now and always
Promise me that all you say is true
That's all I ask of you
Dracula:
Let me be your shelter
Let me be you light
You're safe, no one will find you
Your fears are far behind you
Elona:
All I want is freedom
A world with no more night
And you always beside me
To hold me and to hide me
Dracula:
Then say you'll share with me
One love, one lifetime
Let me lead you from your solitude
Say you want me with you here, beside you
Anywhere you go, let me go too
That's all I ask of you
Elona:
Say you'll share with me
One love, one lifetime
Say the word and I will follow you
Duet of Dracula and Elona together (They slowly put their arms around each other as they continue to sing):
Share each day with me
Each night, each morning
Elona:
Say you love me
Dracula:
You know I do
Duet:
Love me
That's all I ask of you
…(Music)
Anywhere you go, let me go too
Love me,
That's all I ask of you
The song slowly came to a tender and pianissimo end, making the audience applaud and cheer with awed gusto and growing smiles, some Housekeeping witches, even Isadora, took a short break to watch Elona sing with Dracula and they just swooned like love struck fan girls at Dracula's singing, somehow sensing the natural chemistry between them in the way they just harmonized and gazed at each other while singing.
Mavis, Johnny, Dennis, and even Vlad applauded with the Lounge audience for them, the family proud and thrilled for their amazing synchronization, clear with a deep and growing spiritual connection.
From a far inconspicuous corner, the only one to not applaud for them stared on in growing disgust and repulsion as Quasimodo's face twisted to make him seem even more homely, not understanding what his boss saw in that foul, if still attractive in her own way, creature, and it was a sickening scene, Bela shared his sentiment as he too watched on, while in his pants pocket, Esmeralda had mixed feelings about it, agreeing with her friend and master, while also strangely shedding a tear with how beautiful it seemed.
The hunchback then left unnoticed from the Lounge.
As Dracula genteelly helped Elona off of the stage, taking her hand like a gentleman, and looking very happy just to be with each other, Dracula saw his family and came up to them and asked what they thought.
"It was wonderful, Drac," Johnny said as he gave a thumbs up, but then got strangely serious, "But there's something we really need to show you."
At first Dracula gave a raised eyebrow as Johnny took out his iphone, then it showed the video to him and Elona. As they watched, they got more and more wide eyed, and Dracula got a bit madder to the point of his eyes again glowing a laser red, making Elona and his family worry about what he might do at that moment.
"I'll kill him," the Vampire nearly sneered with a hiss, "I'll drain his body of every drop of blood 'til he's nothing but a shriveled up deflated whoopee cushion of a husk."
Elona and his family gave him looks, though Vlad secretly agreed with him, then Elona tried to reason with him, "Drac, calm down, you don't need to get so over dramatic, or gruesome for that matter, I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason why that plumber was moving around all those fireworks."
"Yeah, to blow up the hotel," Dennis said, "Just like he must've messed everything else up to make Papa Drac look bad."
Elona then gave Dennis a look as his dad threw in his suspicions as Johnny said, "He might've even somehow been behind the other accidents, like the overflowing with the spa bathrooms, and the beauty equipment, and even the gym's workout equipment."
"Don't forget about the Laundry room and the Tennis Court, Johnny," Dracula said.
"Yeah," Johnny agreed, "And then just the other day a lot of guest rooms had more plumbing problems, like clogged toilets or no working water at all."
"What?" Dracula yelled loudly, making Johnny flinch and raise his hands.
"Easy, Drac, I took care of it," he said timidly, "You've had enough on your plate already, you know, because you've seemed so, well you know, stressed lately."
Everyone looked at Dracula as a tense silence grew between them, Elona gave a look of understanding while his family gave looks of concern, especially Vlad as he said low, "He's right about that, Drac."
"Well," he began as he cleared his throat, "You know I have occasional mood swings, and it takes a lot of hard work to run a hotel, you know. Besides, I've handled problems like this before."
"But not all at once, Dad," Mavis said.
She gave her father an expectant and worried look, but he just remained tensely silent.
After a long minute of silence between everyone, and Elona gave everything some thought, she finally said reasonably, "Well, except for this video, all we have is suspicions, and no real evidence he was behind any of the other accidents."
"But he was, I know it," Dennis insisted.
Elona gave Dennis a patient look as she said, "Maybe, but I think if we just ask him, which I would usually prefer to do, I have a feeling he'll just deny it unless we get him to outright confess. Unless we find solid proof he was behind the other accidents, he's still innocent until proven guilty."
Dracula gave a doubtful glare at Elona's willingness to give the hunchback the benefit of the doubt, then Mavis said in agreement, "Elona might be right, we should take a closer look at how all those accidents were caused, and somehow get him to confess."
"I'll get the others to help because it might take some time, and I'll ask the staff what they might know, and if they saw anything suspicious," Johnny said.
"I'll take down notes of what everyone discovers and learns about," Elona said.
Dracula reviewed the recording again, and gave a scowl as he said, "And I'll confront that hunchback weasel myself, get him to confess and demote him further before I drain him and eat his pet rat."
Everyone gave him wide eyed looks, though Vlad smirked amusedly a bit, as Elona said, "You don't need to be so gory, Drac, trick him somehow instead."
Dracula seemed reluctant to do so, but knew Elona might be right. Then he got a sneaky look on his long, handsome face as she said to Dennis,
"Denisovich, find your werewolf friends, we're going to play a game with Quasimodo. I think I know wheat their little playmate has been up to."
Dennis smiled, liking how sneaky Papa Drac was getting, while Vlad scowled at what he saw his former minion up to sense magically shrinking him. He placed a hand on Dracula's shoulder, and told him he was going to return home and for Dracula and everyone to let him know how everything goes.
Short sweet good-byes were exchanged with Vlad, while none of them noticed they had been overheard by a passing little gray rat, and she just knew her friend's plans and teaming up with that damn Bat Demon would be nothing but trouble, and not all of it his doing.
Esmeralda had to warn Quasimodo.
A short while later, the little gray rat found her friend, unsurprisingly planning his next move against Dracula with that vile usurping Bela. She tried to get his attention and tell Quasimodo Dracula and his family were on to him now and he needed to stop and lay low for a while. But Quasimodo just waved her away in dismissal as she groaned out in annoyance,
"Not now, Esmeralda, Bela and I are busy."
Esmeralda could only continue to squeak her warning, but he still wouldn't listen, leaving her in a state of hurt and bitterness, and all she could do at that moment was skitter quietly away in hurt betrayal, feeling replaced by a pitiful and retched Bat Demon malcontent.
A few short days later, Elona, Dracula, his family and the Drac Pack had all done some thorough investigations of the alleged accidents, with Elona encouraging everybody to think like detectives, like Sherlock Holmes, which confused most of the monsters but Johnny took to it with his ever easy going manner.
In the spa and gym, they discovered the wiring that helped to power the equipment had been crossed and rewired wrong and resulted in power surges and melted circuits before being repaired, while Mr. Ghouligan told of finding pipes heavily clogged and other parts of indoor plumbing completely sealed or cut off.
Also, the electric powered gym equipment also suffered from cross wiring and resulted power surges before being repaired, where Mr. Ghouligan and Clifton also told in zombie groans of their suspicions of sloppy maintenance when someone loosened more wires or damaged electronics, and a few hand tools were left behind.
In the Laundry room, it was told not only had washers and dryers gone through the same kind of electronic and plumbing problems, some had been completely unplugged and didn't get any water flow, or some washers had too much laundry detergent put in and further clogged them up, while several dryers had over heated from too much build up of laundry lint, though the witch maids insisted they cleaned out daily.
Again, some form of plumbing and power maintenance in the alleged accidents were involved.
Questions were then asked about everyone's whereabouts at those times and if they saw anything suspicious, especially if they saw Quasimodo Wilson just before the accidents occurred.
Dracula even questioned the Armor guards about if they saw Quasimodo going places he shouldn't, and one told of seeing him heading to the bowels of the hotel more often than usual where the indoor plumbing and electric generators were, and another told of seeing him head for the fireworks storage room. Then it was told he had been seen going to the hotel's new gift shop at one time as the cash register, credit card machine, ATM or other electronic appliances suffered yet more from odd power surges and malfunctions, while much of the merchandise and furniture had also been badly damaged. Fortunately, Dracula and later Johnny took care of those problems, but it still nearly set the Vampire manager's blood boiling. Finally, it was told by Mr. Hyde while he supervised the reconstruction of the Tennis Court, he saw Quasimodo slacking off and suspiciously talking to himself, which made Dracula raise an eyebrow and give a dark glare as Elona and his family deduced the hunchback must have been talking to Bela about more damage and trouble making.
Johnny then got a thought as he said, "You know, in the last few weeks when all those accidents happened, it's suspicious and somehow not too surprising the kitchen hasn't been touched at all."
"Of course," Dracula nearly yelled out with a sneering smile, which nearly scared Elona, "I should have known, it's the one place that hasn't been messed with, he'd never want to ruin his precious kitchen."
At the last two words, Dracula's voice became squeaky and cute as he batted his eyes and held his hands together mock lovingly, actually making Elona laugh.
"Then I say what better place to trap the rat and his rat," Johnny said with a sneaky smile.
"Let's do it, Daddy," Dennis said eagerly, "Me, Winnie, and the pups are ready to do this!"
Dad and son high fived, with Dennis as a little bat, and then he and Winnie set off to bait Quasimodo.
At that moment, the scheming hunchback in question was making his way to another essential part of the hotel after having traded some more unsavory gossip with some monster ladies in the Lounge about Dracula, his frightful outburst, and the human woman, and while the monster ladies found the duet really sweet, they found the change in their Vampire host very disconcerting.
This one detail pleased Quasimodo well as he could use it to his advantage, help spread more rumors and doubt in guests about Dracula's competence in being the hotel manager and farther sow the seeds of fear to grow between humans and monsters. Then after a time, hopefully not too long, he will seize his chance and take over the hotel as it's savior.
But for now that ambition has to wait.
As he made his way to his intended targeted destination, Quasimodo was suddenly ambushed by a ball of flying fur as it snatched a large wrench from his grip. He looked at his empty hand in confusion for a moment, then saw it was one of those wretched nuisance were pups growling playfully with a muzzle full of a wrench like a pup wanting to play fetch.
"Give that back, you little pipsqueak," Quasimodo demanded, but the little pup, Warren, just shook his head like he was saying no and playfully chewing on the wrench at the same time, and the next instant he scampered off in a seemingly random direction, and Quasimodo ran after him in pursuit and proved he was still as quick and nimble as ever, never noticing he was also being followed by a certain brunet human woman recording what was happening with her own iphone.
It was only less than a minute later when Quasimodo realized he was heading in a familiar direction, like the little hairy runt was leading him on an intended chase, but for now it was the last thing on his mind.
Warren finally ran through a door held open for him by one of his brothers and scampered into the now remodeled hotel kitchen, and Quasimodo followed half a second later as he nearly burst through the wooden doors. He eyed Warren as the little pup continued to growl playfully with a mouthful of wrench and he backed up deeper into the kitchen.
"C'mere, little fella," Quasimodo tried to say with pseudo friendliness as he beckoned with a long greasy finger, "C'mere, I won't hurt you, just give the nice wrench back to Uncle Quasi."
But Warren wasn't buying it as he just narrowed his light blue eyes and growled in a more hostile way as his fur began to puff up, and he slowly backed deep into the kitchen.
"C'mon, give it back," Quasimodo insisted with growing irritation, "I need it for my work."
"To make another accident?" Warren challenged, "I don't think so."
Quasimodo sneered at Warren, but tried to smile as he said, "No, not at all, I am a plumber and need to do my job with it."
"Liar!" Warren yelled as he spit out the wrench, "We know you're the one who did all those things, and we can prove it!"
"Foolish naïve brat," Quasimodo sneered as he smiled more malignly, "You have no proof I was behind any of it, even if you did who would believe an undisciplined, destructive, and rowdy bunch of were whelps like you, everyone knows children only lie and are unruly with impulsions."
Warren growled angrily and suddenly leaped at the hunchback plumber and bit his leg hard, making Quasimodo give a surprised cry of pain and swiped at Warren but missed the pup as he dodged back and scampered to another end of the kitchen and Quasimodo leaped for a hanging chain and swung like Tarzan from a vine after poor Warren.
Quasimodo smiled with sinister nostalgia as it was like riding a bicycle for him as he swung about his once beloved kitchen and personal sanctum after the pup and then leaped as he grabbed an iron pan as he careened through the air, but missed as he swung the pan and dropped it as he suddenly found himself ambushed and bitten again on a leg and arm by two more wolf pups defending their sibling. Quasimodo gave more startled cries but just became more peeved as he pulled them from himself and held tightly to the two in one arm.
As he reached to grab another kitchen utensil, a sharp knife most likely, his left arm was suddenly bitten by another wolf pup that seemed to leap out of nowhere, and he bit down on Quasi's arm hard enough to make him let go of his two siblings, but then Quasi grabbed his latest biter by his neck and held him nose to long nose and glared angrily into the now scared little pup's wide yellow eyes.
A shadow from above then eclipsed them both and grew, making both Quasimodo and the pup look up but the pup just smiled mischievously and freed himself from Quasimodo's grip a second before a huge black iron pot was dropped onto Quasimodo and entrapped him by two more were pups and they banged on it, making it ring loudly like a gong.
From behind a slightly opened kitchen door, Elona recorded all that happened and couldn't help but smile at the were pups' antics and prank on the little plumber. Part of her felt sorry for him, but something also told her he could take it. As she continued to record, her vision became blurry for a moment and she felt dizzy as a slight wave of a headache over took her, but she shook it away and just tried to concentrate on getting what she needed.
A little black bat with curly red hair and bright blue eyes then flew down from the shadows above as a little she-wolf pup in a pink dress with a white skull and crossbones came out from hiding in one of the more shadowed corners of the kitchen, the little bat changed to Dennis in a puff of green mist and said loudly to the entrapped Quasimodo,
"We got you now, mean ol' Quasimodo! Admit you made you made those accidents, and we'll go easy on you. Maybe Papa Drac'll even not kick you out of the hotel."
Quasimodo suddenly threw the giant iron pot off of himself with amazing strength, bursting from it like a crazed rabid animal as his bloodshot yellow eyes now radiated a growing angered insanity.
"You little half breed brat!" he shouted, "You know nothing! And your 'Papa Drac' is a fool and a traitor to monster kind, and you are proof of it! I have lived under his thumb for too long, and I will see him pay!"
He suddenly grabbed some chopped up cloves from a counter and threw them at Dennis. The little red headed Vampire tried to just shake off the sudden shock of food thrown in his face and wipe the juices away, but he slowly began to feel sick as his breathing became a bit hard with intermittent gasps.
"Dennis, are you okay?" asked a now concerned Winnie as she held to him.
"I…I…"poor Dennis could only struggle to speak as Quasimodo then grabbed a long deadly kitchen knife as he approached the children and he smile maniacally.
Suddenly over come with a protective impulse, Elona burst through the kitchen door and dropped her iphone as she yelled, "Quasimodo, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
She took hold of Dennis and Winnie as she placed herself between the two young friends and their would-be killer, making Quasimodo go wide eyed at her sudden arrival.
"Ah, Mademoiselle," he greeted with pseudo pleasantry, "How nice to see you again, what brings you here to my humble domain?"
But Elona wasn't buying any of it as she just seethed, "Save it, creep, I saw what you were about to do, and that tells me you're a psycho, and that's more than enough proof that you had to be behind the so-called accidents the past few weeks."
Quasimodo again went wide eyed and sneered at what she just said. But that sneer became a smirk, which sent a chill down Elona's spine as Quasimodo slowly lowered his makeshift weapon just enough to declare,
"Wi, I and my little partner, Bela, made zose accidents. We caused them all as we planned before, and still we are going to cause more. It was also I who began spreading rumors about humans after Bela overheard you had a bad blood disease, which lead to ze fighting and discrimination between the monsters and vile humans."
Elona gave him a not too surprised but still shocked and disgusted look as she asked with a low gasp, "But, why?"
Quasimodo just gave a frown and look of insult like it should have been obvious, but said with long bottled resentment as he callously waved the knife in the air about him, "Need you ask, woman?! You yourself admit to suffering from your own kinds' hatred, monsters have suffered far longer and this hotel was meant as a safe sanctuary away from that same hatred. But then a pathetic human boy found it because of Monsieur Dracula's carelessness, and should have killed the whelp to keep the secret of the hotel safe, but no, the fool let him stay, and now your baneful kind defile it, mock it with your very presence here and I am going to fix that!"
From another shadowed corner of the kitchen, Warren had found Elona's iphone and quickly brought up a special hotel app and continued to record what was going on. He and his hidden brothers all gave shocked looks at what they just heard Quasimodo say as Warren almost dropped the phone again. Yet a raspy voice from the shadows whispered to him reassuringly,
"Keep recording."
Warren smiled and did as Quasimodo continued to rant in pent up anger,
"I will return this hotel to its rightful illustrious glory as the new and rightful manager! A hotel for monsters and monsters only, as it should be! I sabotaged everything to drive ze humans away, and it was working, and it will still work! And none of you, not you, not Dracula's brat and her human pet, nor their disgusting spawn there, not even Dracula himself will stop me! And not even you!"
Insanity and malice lit his homely face as he raised his knife again, making a gasping and nearly suffocating Dennis and Winnie flinch with fear as Elona held them close to herself, fear lighting her azure blue eyes as a small wave of dizziness over took her again momentarily, but she tried to shake it away.
"Get away from them," a familiar raspy voice warned coldly from the shadows and made Quasimodo almost freeze in place as he looked to a nearby corner where the voice may have come from and saw a pair of narrowed glowing red eyes.
Like a living dark mist, Dracula slowly emerged and took form from the shadows as though he was part of them, forming from them like a tangible darkness himself until the final thin tendrils wisped away, the red from his eyes steadily faded as he emerged, and an air of coldness surrounded him which made Quasimodo quiver with a growing apprehension, while Elona and the children only became filled with hope and relief. With his satin black cape cocooning his figure and with a dark piercing glare in his eyes, he slowly glided between Elona and the children and a near murderous Quasimodo, who then could only give a nervous chuckle.
"Ah, Bonsuir, Monsieur Dracula," the hunchback tried to greet with a crooked nervous smile, "What brings you here?"
"Your confession," Dracula said coldly as his icy blue eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked down at Quasimodo, "And drop the niceties, Wilson, you're through."
"Heh, heh, you heard that?" Quasimodo nearly squeaked like Esmeralda.
"The entire hotel heard it, Baby!" Dracula declared with an icy razor's edge, "I warned you about threatening those I care about, and I won't warn you again. No Mr. Nice Vampire this time, I am going to see you pay."
A deadly chill when down Quasimodo's diminutive spin, turning it a bright yellow, thinking it meant he was going to pay with his blood, and his very life.
"NEVER!" Quasimodo suddenly shouted as he dropped his knife and made a mad dash for the doors as he crashed through them, startling everyone else in the kitchen.
"Guards!" Dracula shouted, and the next instant one appeared with a salute and Dracula ordered it, "Stop Quasimodo immediately, don't let him escape! Lock all the doors in the hotel!"
"Yes, sir," the Armor guard obeyed and loudly clanked off in a rapid march.
He turned back to Elona and the children with a smile, but he face dropped as he saw Dennis nearly suffocating and Elona held the boy close, trying to comfort him.
"You gotta help him, Drac," she said in a worried near panic, "that little bastard threw something at him, and he doesn't look so good now."
Dracula looked Dennis over and his over protectiveness grew as he saw Dennis had become paler than him. He then saw the diced cloves on the counter and took a closer look and sniffed them lightly.
"Garlic," he hissed with some disgust, "Why do I keep this stuff in my kitchen?"
Elona didn't say anything.
He then took Dennis from Elona and protectively wrapped his grandson close with his cape as he tried to control his own growing panic and implored to the little boy,
"Hang on, Denisovich, you're going to be okay, I've got you."
The next instant with remarkable swiftness, Dracula ran with Dennis to the hotel infirmary. Elona just momentarily stared after the light trail of dust Dracula left behind, and she and Winnie finally left the kitchen to help find an on the lam Quasimodo.
But for another moment she had to catch herself at the door as she felt another, but stronger wave of dizziness which she again fought off.
With an adrenaline fueled rush, Quasimodo had run through the halls of Hotel Transylvania, once more easily dodging and evading the Armor guards that tried to stop him and proving his prowess hadn't deteriorated over the years, cackling maniacally as he passed them.
"Hah, hah, missed me, you walking, clanking tin cans!" he mocked as he finally made it to the main Lobby.
As he tried to get through the crowd he heard various angered and displeased voices shouting at him.
"There's the little toll!"
"Get him!"
"Stop him!"
"He's trying to get away, don't let him!"
Hotel guests, humans and monsters alike, gathered closely to try and stop Quasimodo to try and slow down and deter Quasimodo from escaping and it just maddened him more as he pushed him way through and demanded hotly,
"Out of my way, fools! Get out of the way, let me pass!"
He then leaped high like a spring heeled kangaroo and jumped on a Gillman's head to a human man, then to a green faced hag, and just over a twenty something human couple, all of them surprised and annoyed by his leaping about and using their heads as springs or jumping boards.
"Hah, hah!" he laughed as he sighted the front revolving door, certain his escape was assured.
But moments before he could land, a thick wave of indigo mist flared forth from the floor and rose quickly to form into an angered Dracula, making Quasimodo flail in the air and land with a hard bodily thump in front of the Vampire Count and give the hunchback an intimidating and darker version of the glare he gave Johnny when he saw him and Mavis first kissing.
Quasimodo tried to crawl back from his displeased bossed and made another literal leap away, but got caught in mid air by a large blue grey stitched hand by his leg and was held upside down as Frank glared at him and brought Quasimodo back to face and look at Dracula straight in the eye, and he just tried to glare at him defiantly with a sneer.
In the background, a recording of Quasimodo ranting and threatening Elona and the children repeated on the front desk's two big screen monitors, and on everyone's smart phones:
"I will return this hotel to its rightful illustrious glory as the new and rightful manager! A hotel for monsters and monsters only, as it should be! I sabotaged everything to drive ze humans away, and it was working, and it will still work! And none of you, not you, not Dracula's brat and her human pet, nor their disgusting spawn there, not even Dracula himself will stop me! And not even you!"
Quasimodo gave a yelp as Frank let go and he dropped him into the waiting grasps of two Armor guards as a tied up Bela, entangled in silver white spider threads and an angered snare on his bestial face, was lowered beside him by two spiders, and the entire lobby when dead silent with mad and disappointed hotel guests, Dracula, his family, the Drac Pack, and finally an arriving Elona as she went to stand by Dracula.
Quasimodo just looked around in confusion as he could only gasp out, "But how?"
Johnny came up to him with a bit of an easy going but smug smile and held up his smart phone and said as though it was obvious, "An app I made for the hotel, it plays live feeds for announcements or shows people miss or want to see and can download for free. Sure came in pretty handy for your ranting confession just now."
Quasimodo just scowled darkly at Johnny, and Elona finally asked with a bit of her own proud smugness, "So what should be done with our would-be saboteur and criminal mastermind?"
"Throw him out of the hotel!" someone shouted.
"Lock him in a dungeon!" another yelled.
"Suck his blood!" shouted another, making some people give groans.
There came brief shouts of agreement to all of the suggestions, but Dracula yelled with a controlled voice, "Quiet down, everybody!" And the lobby once again gradually grew silent, "I'm not going to do any of that. But rest assured he will be punished now."
But Quasimodo just laughed low like only he knew of a personal secret joke, making everyone glare at him more.
"Heh, heh, heh. And what are you going to do with me, Monsieur Dracula? Ze hotel has no dungeon, and you would never lower yourself to drinking my blood, which you should have done to the boy in ze first place."
His homely round face twisted more at the last words he spoke in a heated tone, and made Dracula shiver a bit but he didn't show it to his deranged employee.
"I had my reasons for not killing Johnny," Dracula said more reasonably, if still tensely, "It would have set monsters back hundreds of years, and I vowed never to do that again."
"You should have made an exception," Quasimodo yelled with growing heated anger as he struggled in the tight grasped of the Armor guards, "No one would have known! And since you wouldn't, I would! I was doing you a favor!"
Growing murmurs reverberated throughout the Lobby, making Johnny and Mavis go wide eyed, and Elona gave Quasimodo a near death glare, but Dracula just scoff and said,
"Hardly, not only would you have set monsters back centuries, if not worse you would have robbed my daughter of any future happiness, and it took Johnny finding the hotel to teach me that."
He looked to Mavis and Johnny with a small smile, which they returned, and then he turned to Elona with the same smile, hoping she understood it now meant her, and she returned it with her own shy one.
Dracula then looked back at a snarling Quasimodo and said, "Apparently, you never got that, and still don't get it. If you're so eager to lower yourself, fine, but other monsters won't be going down with you."
"Hah!" Quasimodo just scoffed loudly, "And what could be lower than being a miserable measly plumber? It's what you've had me do for the last twenty years, a pathetic, humiliating, putrid waste of an existence."
Dracula frowned a bit as he groaned a bit, "It's only been seven years."
"It might as well have been 'twenty' for that's how long it felt to me being at the bottom of the barrel," Quasimodo seethed out.
Dracula then smiled sneakily, making Quasimodo loose his angered boldness with widening worried eyes as Dracula then said with that same smile,
"Oh, it'll seem like high living compared to being Glen's keeper."
Quasimodo could only go wide mouthed and wide eyed as he squirmed and struggled again as the Armor guards began to take him away and he yelled,
"No! NOOO! Not that! Anything but that!"
Everyone in the Lobby started to laugh, even if hardly any of the human guests knew who Glen was, as Quasimodo just continued to rant and rave,
"Fools! You're all idiots and fools! I should be manager! Humans and monsters don't belong together! Dracula will be the down fall of the hotel because of it! You'll see, you'll all see!"
But he was soon gone, and Dracula turned his attention to Bela and said, "As for you, pipsqueak…"
"Oh, no," Bela yelled with his own defiance, "Leave me out of it. I only went along for the fun of chaos and destruction, but it got me nowhere, and I have no intent on going back to being a puppy chew toy. I'm outta here."
With amazing strength, Bela snapped the spider threads that held him and he fluttered away with nearly equal amazing speed.
Again murmurs reverberated throughout the Lobby, filling with apologies and reconciliations between human and monster guests who only originally wanted to make friends.
Dracula, Elona, and his family even began to make their way through the Lobby and he went a bit wide eyed to see a familiar human man and his family come up to them, looking a bit ashamed. It was the same man and his family that wanted to leave at first and made the empty threat of a bad online review.
"Hello, Your Grace," the man said, and Dracula gave a polite nod, "I want to say…, well my wife made me see, and I now realize you just must've been under a lot of pressure lately, but uh, I guess I'm just trying to say uh, I'm sorry about what I said to you before."
A long awkward silence followed, but Dracula gave a look to the man and then the wife and son with him, and he gave a small smile and nod, hoping they understood and he accepted the apology.
"Well, I say this calls for a celebration," Johnny said with his ever easy going manner as he hooked arms with Mavis, but Dracula just gave a bit of a frown as he said,
"That would be a good idea, Johnny, but I think after we see if Denisovich is better."
Mavis and Johnny gave soft gasps as worry grew and demanded to know what happened to their son, and Elona told them what happened and showed it on an earlier version of the recording and Dracula reassured them he took Dennis to the infirmary, and last he heard from the doctor Dennis was going to be okay if a little sick and bed ridden for a few days.
Mavis and Johnny gave sighs of relief and went to go see their young son, while Dracula and Elona stayed behind and he took Elona's arm in his own again as he smiled at her and asked,
"Do you have any ideas for a celebration, Elona?"
She just smiled up at him and said playfully, "Well, I wouldn't mind singing with you again, or maybe dancing as I haven't seen you 'bust a move' yet, and I wasn't a bad dancer myself back in the day."
They shared a bit of a laugh, but then Elona grasped her head as she felt the strongest wave of dizziness yet, and this time she barely resisted it.
"Elona, are you okay?" asked Dracula with growing concern.
"I'm fine," she tried to reassure him, "I think I just…need…to…uhhh…"
Her vision suddenly went blurry as her eyes rolled back into her head and blacked out as she fainted into Dracula's arms.
"Elona!" he cried with a growing panic, and he held her close as he fell with her to his knees, "No! No, no, no, please! Help! Somebody help me!"
Gathering his wits and trying not to lose it, he gingerly wrapped Elona close into his cape and teleported in a thick billow of indigo and purple mist to the infirmary again.