CHAPTER 20-NO GOING BACK
"Save your twisted enemy, so you might earn forgiveness,
You know you whole world is waiting, so why can't you speak?
I can feel it coming over me, I'm still a slave to these dreams
Is this the end of everything? Or just a new way to bleed?
So go and tell all your friends that I'm a failure underneath if it makes you feel like a bigger man
But it's my heart, my life, that you're calling a lie,
I've played this game before, and I can't take it anymore."
-Evanescence, 'New Way to Bleed'
The funeral was short.
Dracula was too beaten up to attend, but to be honest, everyone was glad he wasn't there. He had been through the mill enough as it was. As the zombies lowered Rossete's coffin into the ground, Frank did his best not to start bawling again. Surrounded by monsters (and a human) all dressed in black, he didn't want to draw even more attention to himself then he already was.
The coffin hit the bottom of the hole with a thud. Mavis wiped at the black mascara that was running underneath her eyes. Johnathon squeezed her gloveless hand. Thankfully for the couple, since the Blood Moon, Mavis had aquired control over her newfound powers. If Dracula had, no one was sure. No one was sure what had happened on the night of the Blood Moon. The story was the same for everyone except Dracula-they had somehow blacked out, and when they had woken up, they were lying among the ashes of Hotel Transylvania, Blackthorne and the Boogeyman were gone, Rossete was dead, and Dracula was lying next to her body, unconscious and with a hole in his chest. When he had woken up, he hadn't once mentioned the Blood Moon. He hadn't mentioned anything, really. The Fly had declared that Dracula was in a temporary catonic state, probably caused by the events of the ill-fated Blood Moon.
As the first clod of dirt hit the coffin, Frank was reminded of Martha's funeral. Of course, her body was lost in the fire that had destroyed the Draculas' castle year ago, but it hadn't stopped them from having a memorial service. It was horrible. and so was this one. Frank didn't know a single funeral that wasn't horrible.
After Rossete was buried, her gravestone was set into the ground, and the mourners gone, Frank, Mavis, and Johnathon set off to check on Dracula. They went back into Rossete's mansion and found thier way to Dracula's door. Wayne, Griffith, and Murray were already there. Wayne nodded at them, and Frank knocked at Dracula's door.
"Drac?" Frank called softly.
Nothing.
"Lemme try." Johnathon pushed past Frank. "Dracula." Johnathon rapped his fingers against the door. When that got no response, he tried again.
Knock knock.
"Drac."
Nothing.
Knock knock.
"Drac."
Nothing
Knock knock.
"Drac."
Nothing.
Knock knock.
"Oh for the love of-" Wayne shoved Johnathon out of the way and kicked down the door. His friends stared at him.
"What?" Wayne asked a little sheepishly.
"Nothing." Murray replied.
"Dad?" Mavis stepped into the room. Frank followed her and took in the sight of the room. It looked completely undisturbed, like it was some sort of window display used for showy purposes only, where the bed had never been slept on, the carpet had never been stepped on, or the bookcase had never been touched. That was the problem. Last they had seen him, Dracula had been lying in bed in a stupor. The carpet had been wrinkled, and the books scattered everywhere. The witch maid could have been here, if she hadn't been at the funeral the whole time.
"He's gone." Griffith said.
"No kidding Einstein." Murray snapped.
"What's this?" All eyes turned to Mavis, who picked up something that was lying on the bed. She held it out for her friends to see.
It was a necklace. It had a black chain holding a round, red stone that resembled a full moon.
Frank flashed back to the Blood Moon. After he had blacked out and woken up, the moon was gone from the sky. He hadn't realized this until that moment.
"It looks like the Blood Moon." Johnathon whispered, touching the necklace's stone tenatively.
"But what does it mean?" Griffith questioned.
Dracula's heart was gone. That meant he shouldn't feel emotions. He should be lying back in bed, eyes glazed, dead to the world. He shouldn't be feeling anything.
So why was guilt tearing him up inside?
Maybe it was because he had taken his own heart. Pulling it from his pocket, Dracula stared at his unbeating heart. It was blackened, all shriveled up. It looked disgusting. Why was he even alive? Dracula wasn't sure how the whole 'pulling-out-peoples'-hearts' thing worked, but if his heart was shriveling up, then what was keeping him alive?
Out of curiousity, Dracula unwrapped the bandages around his chest, and placed his hand over the healing hole.
And froze.
Slowly, unbelieving, he felt for his heartbeat that shouldn't be there. But he felt it. It was there, even though his heart was sitting in his hands. As Dracula looked down on it, it began to tremble. Slightly panicking, Dracula had no idea what to do as his heart further blackened, crumbled, and shriveled to dust.
Feeling his heartbeat again, Dracula thought of the necklace he had left in his room. He had found it in his pocket after he had woken up. Now he had a new heart too. Out of nowhere, he heard a soft voice.
"It's not over. I will hunt you down and destroy you, even if I have to go through the entire world to get to you."
Dracula believed it.
Every single word.
A/N-Wow, it feels like the end, huh? That's why I can't decide whether to publish the second part of this in this story or into a whole other story. What do you think? Let me know by reviews!