Alucard Unveiled

Al looked down at the broken mask in his hands. He remembered the night he wore it: he tried to kidnap Drac, but Mavis stopped him and saw his eye. She was suspicious of him ever since until recently. Little did she know that she was right all along.

"Let me make this clear," Al angrily said as he stepped forward and pressed his finger against Lily's chest. "I am not one of you. I will never be one of you."

"Fine by me," Lily admitted. "It doesn't change the fact that we own you, Al."

"No one owns me."

"Let me rephrase that. It doesn't change the fact that we own your mother."

Al took his finger off of Lily's chest and turned around. He clenched his fist very tightly, digging his fingernails into his skin.

"You are incredibly stupid, Al," Lily insulted. "You knew the consequences of - well - doing your job terribly."

"Is she alive?" he asked.

"Of course," she answered. "We know better than to kill off our only leverage over you. You've made more trouble than you're worth, however. You failed to kidnap the Count yourself. You stopped Mr. Gill from killing the human and getting another vampire. You stopped me and our minotaur friend from getting a single vampire. Do you have any idea what you're doing to your mother?"

Lily tossed him her phone and he grabbed it in midair. On it was a video that was in the middle of playing.

The location of the video was unclear, but it was outdoors. The sun was out. Lucine was laying on her back against a wooden board, and her hands and feet were chained up. She winced and cried as the sun burned her skin. It was torture to the highest degree.

Al nearly crushed the phone in his hands. Lily managed to yank it away from him.

"The deal was that she wouldn't get hurt!" He angrily yelled as he stepped closer to Lily in an attempt to intimidate her.

"No, the deal was that she wouldn't get hurt as long as you played your part well, and you're not."

"I am playing my part. You knew what I was trying to do after Mavis stopped me from kidnapping Dracula. You knew that I was trying to gain their trust."

"Might I add that I gained yours very quickly."

"Shut up, Lily. Your boss mentioned that he had eyes and ears everywhere. I should've known it was you. If your only job was to keep an eye on me, what was the point of getting close to me?"

"You would be surprised how boring basic spying is. I had to make sure that I could keep my eye on you without looking suspicious, and I needed to make sure you weren't hiding anything. You showed me everything." She smirked at the end of her comment.

"Whatever. I told you guys that I was going to do it my way, and you still sent the minotaur and reptile."

"We needed results, and we needed them quickly," Lily reminded. "You were taking way too long with what should've been a really simple job: kidnap a member of Dracula's family. The job wasn't to watch a movie with them. The job wasn't to have a pool party with them. Why do you care so much about them if you knew you had to turn your back on them in the end anyway?"

Al realized that Lily didn't know that he was Drac's son. Despite all of the deception Al used on Drac and Mavis, his reaction towards being Drac's son was genuine. He truly believed that Drac was his father, and that only made it hurt more to betray him.

However, he didn't trust Lily with that information. If he revealed himself to them too soon, there was no guarantee that his mother would be safe. On the other hand, if he kept on playing the role of an innocent, then the Hunters would distrust Al more and more, and eventually they'll forget about him and kill his mother.

"These people don't deserve what the Hunters want to do to them. No one does."

"Don't try to look high and mighty, Al. No, you're a bad guy now. Just like me. Your noble intentions are irrelevant."

"If you're here for an update, I'll give it to you," Al said. "Give me a few hours, and I'll get you what you want."

He decided that he would reveal himself to them as Drac's son. That way, they could end their crusade against the Hotel and simply use Al for whatever purpose they needed him. Even after being forcibly coerced into working for the Hunters, they did not tell him anything about themselves, and Al hated that.

"Actually, we won't have to wait that long," Lily said. "My boss is now really flexible with his requirement. He needs a prime vampire, Al. It makes no difference to him if the prime vampire is related to Drac or not."

Perfect, Al thought.

"You want me to give myself up in the place of someone else," Al said. He was planning on doing so anyway, so things were working out well.

"Exactly," Lily said.

"But what about my mother?"

"Your life for your mother's. Sound fair?"

"I want to see her go free before I turn myself in," Al bargained.

"That can be arranged. You know where we're keeping her, correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, then I don't have to bother going through the trouble of chaining you up and dragging you along with me," Lily stated, smiling. "Come to Paris. When you get there, we'll find you and we'll let her go."

"Then we have an agreement," Al finalized. "Just give me a few hours to say my goodbyes."

"Again with your goddamn bleeding heart," Lily muttered. "You're betraying these people! Why bother giving them courtesy of any kind? Besides, don't you think leaving randomly will leave them suspicious?"

"Fine, fine," Al said. "I get the point. See you in Paris."

"Remember, Al, if we don't see you there, we'll keep on trying to snatch someone from the Hotel. This is all on you."

He didn't know how she would be able to leave without flying away on her wings, but he watched as she jumped out of the window. He quickly put her travel method out of his mind. There were many pressing matters he had to worry about.

He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. His mother was being tortured. He could no longer spend anymore time with his long, lost family. Finally, he would have to sacrifice himself to the Hunters.

The sound of an exhale outside of his room caught his attention. Al managed to catch it with his enhanced hearing. Quickly, he ran over to his Hotel room door and opened it. Standing in the doorway was Johnny looking very surprised.

"Johnny," Al said.

"I have to go," Johnny replied, briskly turning away.

With no options left, Al grabbed Johnny by the collar of his shirt and pulled him inside of the room. Using telekinesis, he shut the door behind him. Johnny stumbled onto the floor but quickly turned around to face Al.

"What're you going to do now, Al?" Johnny asked.

"How much did you hear?"

"I heard all of it," answered Johnny. "You... You're a Hunter! You've been a Hunter this whole time."

"No," denied Al.

"Don't lie!"

"I'm not!"

"How am I supposed to trust you?"

"You can't," admitted Al. "You don't... You don't understand. I've made some really bad decisions recently, Johnny. Give me a chance to explain myself."

"You're not going to kill me to silence me?"

"No," Al answered.

"Then talk."

There wasn't much I lied to you about. But, there is one thing. Remember when I told you about how the Hunters killed my mother? Well, things didn't really happen the way I said they happened.

A few days earlier...

Grendel, the Hunter leader's right hand man, looked down at Al with his silver sword in hand. Al clenched his teeth together as he suffered through the pain of having his body slashed by a sword. Yards behind Al was the burning home of Lucine and Al. Yards behind Grendel was the leader of the Hunters as well as Lucine and many masked Hunters.

Al failed miserably when he tried to save his mother from their grasps. Grendel was a formidable opponent, and he managed to easily subdue Al with the swing of a sword.

"This is what passes for a vigilante," Grendel muttered. "Pathetic. He's weak, boss. We don't need him."

"He's stronger than any of us," the boss announced. "He's just never faced something like this before."

"Let him go!" Lucine pleaded.

"All in due time," the leader assured.

"You better kill me before I get back up and kick your asses," threatened Al.

"This one has heart," observed the leader. "I like it. Hell, I like him better than you, Grendel. Give him his space."

Grendel barked in anger. He then backtracked to the rest of his colleagues plus Lucine.

"Alucard, we're not here to kill you," the Hunter leader revealed. "We've heard of your exploits - and I've seen some of them first hand - and I'm impressed. You would be a very valuable asset to us."

"You're them, aren't you?" Al asked as he got up, clutching his chest. "You're the bastards responsible for the kidnappings."

"Well, no need to be so mean about it. But, yes," said the leader.

"You don't want me as your enemy," warned Al.

"And you don't want us as yours," the leader replied. "Look around, Alucard. We outnumber you. You took quite an attack from my colleague, here. We have your mother. If you honestly believe that there's anything you can do against us, then you truly are an idiot, and we have no use for idiots. That means we don't have use for an idiot's mother."

Grendel raised his sword up over Lucine - who had her wrists chained together. As he swung down, Al screamed for him to stop, and Grendel obliged.

"I get it!" Al insisted. "I'll do what you want. Just let her go."

"Yes, you will do what we want," smugly said the leader. "Let me preface this by saying that we don't need you for this job. We have plenty of capable monsters who can do this. However, I know none who can do it competently. That's where you come in."

"Don't do it, Al," Lucine begged. "Whatever it is, don't do it."

"This is to make sure you're safe, Ma," replied Al.

The leader motioned for Al to come closer, and Al reluctantly took a few steps forward.

"Have you ever been to Hotel Transylvania, my boy?" The leader asked. "If not, well, here's your chance. You're familiar with the manager there, I'm sure. I need you to kidnap Dracula or a member of Dracula's family. Simple as that."

"Why do you need Dracula?"

"That shouldn't really concern you, should it?"

"I'm no criminal," reminded Al. Obviously, he very much did not want to do anything for the Hunters. Unfortunately, his hands were tied. There was no clever way out for him.

"It's no problem for us if your pride is more important to you than your mother's life. If you refuse, we'll kill her, then we'll kill you. Then, we'll find someone else to do the job anyway. We'll get what we want anyway. Nothing will change except that there's going to be two dead vampires if you refuse. I'd very much like to avoid that. Wouldn't you?"

"You just scream sympathy," sarcastically stated Al.

"What's it going to be, Alucard?"

"I don't have much of a choice here," muttered Al.

"I'll take that as a yes," the leader stated.

"She goes free," Al ordered.

"Of course. After you complete your mission, that is."

"How do I know that she'll be alive throughout all of this?"

"You won't," admitted the leader. "But you're trading one of Dracula's family or Dracula himself for your mother. It's in our best interest to keep her alive. Keep in mind, however, that if you compromise us, if you seek help, if you forget your mission, we will know, and your mother will suffer. We have eyes and ears everywhere."

Al wanted to object. He wanted to fight every single person around him to save his mother. However, he knew that he couldn't win that. He had no choice but to be their puppet.

"I understand..." angrily said Al. "I do it my way, though. Don't try to interfere."

"Know that I'm a very impatient person," the leader said. "I may get sick of your antics and send in my own men to do the job. Should they do the job before you, well... You know what that means."

One by one, the masked Hunters around the leader transformed into bats and flew away. Grendel smacked Lucine's head and knocked her unconscious. Al prepared to lunge at him in anger, but the monster pointed his sword at Al as a warning.

"When I have the person," Al asked, turning his attention away from Grendel, "where do I bring them?"

"Paris, Alucard," answered the leader. "That's in France, if you don't know. When you get there with the vampire, we'll find you. Oh, and Hotel Transylvania is fairly far away from here. I suggest you get going immediately when you wake up."

Al was confused, and asked, "When I wake up?"

A Hunter appeared behind him and smacked him hard in the back of the head. Al was out cold.

Present day

"When I woke up, I found a suit and a mask laying on the ground next to me," Al told Johnny. "I flew over to the Hotel as soon as I could. Silver chains weren't hard to find. I didn't care about anyone else but my mother. That's why it was so easy for me to try to kidnap Drac."

"But Mavis stopped you," Johnny recalled.

Al nodded in agreement.

"Why didn't you try again?"

"I expected that the Hotel's security would be a lot tougher," Al answered. "I doubted that I could even get within one-hundred feet of Drac to kidnap him. So, I had a new plan."

"Pretend to be a guest at the Hotel and gain our trust," muttered Johnny.

"It was working for the most part," said Al. "Your wife was smart not to trust me."

"Why are you even telling me this?" Johnny asked. "You were against us this whole time. Hell, I'd be an idiot to believe a single word you're saying."

"I was never against you, Johnny!" Al barked. "I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just wanted to save my mother, and that meant I had to do some really messed up things. Do you think I was comfortable around you guys knowing what I had to do? Do you think I was able to sleep at day?"

Johnny stayed silent, looking at Al in disbelief, betrayal, and sadness. He genuinely liked Al. Now, he was uncomfortable to be in the same room.

"So what now, Alucard?" Johnny asked. "If that is your real name."

"It is," confirmed Al. "Now, I'm going to leave the Hotel. I'm going to turn myself in to the Hunters, and you're probably never going to see me again. It's for the best."

"Wait, you're turning yourself in? I thought your mission was for Drac."

"My mission was for Drac's bloodline. I'm a liar, but Drac isn't. At least, I don't think he is. The only one who knows for sure is my mother, but since she's a tad bit preoccupied, I have to settle for Drac's word. If I am his son, it's better that the Hunters have me than anyone else. Besides, they need a prime vampire now. They don't care if they're related to Drac. For sure, I'm a prime vampire."

"That's... incredibly selfless of you. But, you found out that you're Drac's son a while ago. Even if you didn't know that they only needed a prime vampire, why didn't you leave sooner?"

"I... I wanted to know what it felt like to have a family. A real family. God, this sounds corny, but what the hell? I knew that the longer I stayed, the harder it'd be. Lily managed to give a push out of the door, though. I'm leaving tonight, and I can't say any goodbyes."

"But, if you're not actually Drac's son..."

"It doesn't matter," said Al.

"Also, you mentioned Paris in your story," Johnny recalled. "Paris is the place you told Mavis where the Philosopher's Stone is. You wanted to bring her there to find it."

"There is no Philosopher's Stone, Johnny," Al said. "I made that part up. Paris is where the Hunters told me to go."

"You thought it'd be easier for you if she went to Paris on her own free will..."

Al had no justification. He had only contempt for himself. The person strong-armed into helping the Hunters was not the same person who fought crime in New York. The only thing that consoled him was that he had yet to do anything to directly benefit the Hunters.

"Are you going to tell them?" Al asked, looking down.

"They deserve to know, Al," answered Johnny. "They have to know."

"You're right. I know you're right. I just wish... I wish that things wouldn't end this way. Drac and Mavis deserve a son and brother better than me."

"Jesus, Al, stop getting me all emotional. How about I tell them after you're long gone? That way, you don't have to see their reactions. Better yet, they don't knock the fangs out of you, although we all know you deserve it."

Al chuckled. "Sounds good. I was planning on leaving right after this, anyway. Well, I don't need to bother packing, so I suppose I'll be going now."

He turned away from Johnny and walked towards the large, open window in his room. It was the middle of the night so he would be able to travel a good bit before the sun came out.

Before he left, Al spoke to Johnny once more without looking back.

"Tell Mavis, Drac, Dennis... Tell all of them that I'm sorry it had to be this way. This is the only way they won't get hurt."

Al transformed into a bat and flew off.

Mavis was playing with Dennis on the floor of their living room. She had a toy truck in one hand and was hitting it against Dennis's own toy truck. She always found it underwhelming that monster trucks weren't actual monsters.

The sound of the door unlocking and opening made her smile.

"That you, Johnny?" she called.

"Yeah," he said, rather sadly. "Listen, Mavey, I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay, but you better make it quick. Dad wanted to have a meal with me and Al."

"Honey, that's not going to happen..."

Mavis raised an eyebrow. There was absolutely no reasonable reason that it shouldn't happen. She was very interested in what Johnny had to say at that point. Unfortunately, Johnny was having far too much trouble bringing himself to tell his family about the truth of Al. He thought of the worst-case scenarios of telling them: they wouldn't believe them or they'd be unreasonably devastated.

"Dennis, can you play somewhere else in the Hotel for a bit?" Johnny requested.

Dennis - his innocence made him ignorant towards there being anything wrong - dropped his toys and waddled off and out of the room. There were so many fun things for him to do at the Hotel.

Johnny sat down on the couch, and Mavis sat next to him. She managed to give him a warm smile. He put his hand on her knee, and she put her hand over his. However, she felt how tense he was.

"Before I tell you," Johnny started, "I just want you to know that the last thing I want to do is hurt you. I love you."

"I love you, too," Mavis said, squeezing his hand.

At that point, Johnny was sure that he had to go through with it.

"Remember when-"

"Wait," Mavis interrupted. "Do you hear that?"

Johnny was sort of relieved that he could delay the truth. He wasn't sure if he was ready for it himself.

"I don't hear anything."

As a vampire, Mavis had incredible hearing. She focused her hearing on the sound. It was a horrible, screeching noise that came from the outside. Immediately, she recognized it as the sound wailing banshees make.

"Banshees," Mavis announced.

"Well, what about them?"

"Dad recently hired some to act as alarms," Mavis said. "They're supposed to wail in the case of an emergency."

"Well, what kind of emergency?" Johnny asked.

Mavis stood up and off of the couch and approached the door out of their room. Without looking back, she answered, "Invasion."

To be continued in the next chapter