"You're gonna be OK."

Frank's words fell on deaf ears. It wasn't Johnny's wound that sapped his strength, Frank could see that much in his eyes. He looked into the void with his brow quivering. His soul was contemplating what had happened. It was the very look Frank had seen from Dracula in their past. For all his strength, he knew that once again he was powerless to help one of his friends in the way they truly needed it. Keeping him alive was all he could do.

"Where is the hunter?" His question was brash and unsettling.

Murray had only heard his friend speak in such a manner on rare occasions. He was angry but he supressed it for everyone's sake.

"He's..."

Frank had stomped off before he could finish.

"…still inside." Murray's whisper was heard only by himself.

Frank's large boots brought with them am ominous echo though the building. Only when he had pushed aside the old doors of the castle entrance did he stop. The cold air hit them in an instant, filling his undead lungs with a more welcoming breath. There was no comfort in it for him but at least Johnny's own breathing sounded more natural.

"There you go, pal."

He made a light groan in his arms. He held onto his wound in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. It evoked a feeling in Frank that had not been there since the day he had watched Dracula and his young daughter slip from life as poison flowed through their veins. He had been willing to surrender everything to bring them back, but now there was no machine, no hope of curing Johnny as the monster that held him contained a roar with all his might.

The doors behind him scratched against the grit-covered floor. With a reluctant glance, Frank made eye contact with Jeremiah. He was flanked by the two hybrids and Murray, who had been true to his request and found the hunter. Frank wouldn't say a word as Jeremiah approached cautiously, knowing full well the situation he was in. he knelt down and assessed the damage. He had first-hand experience of the relentlessness of Bela's attacks. He was half vampire but Johnny did not have the same luxury.

Jeremiah wiped his mouth as his nerves hit him. Frank was over him and the hunter knew that he could flip at any moment.

"We need to get him back to the cabin. We can do better for him there. Just keep pressure on the wound."

His non-definitive answer did not impress Frank.

"This was your idea, so you fix it!"

Agatha and Nicolae took a step forward, fearing that Frank's rage was about to bubble over. He didn't even seem aware of their presence, or he cared too little to show it.

"We can take him back. We will do everything we can." Agatha offered to take the burden for her partner.

"He will be safe with us." Nicolae added.

Frank had no faith in what they said, but there was little hope for anything. Slowly Agatha bent down and helped Jonathan up. He managed to stand on his own two feet with her support, but his wound gave him very little movement. As she held him steady, Nicolae retrieved a vial from his belt. He poured the contents over the wound, causing Johnny to scream. The sound was enough to make Frank snap. In a burst of anger he grasped Jeremiah by the collar in his relentless hand and pulled him near.

"I was stupid enough to believe you! I let Dracula trust you! It's my fault this has happened, but I'm not going to let you walk away!"

His other fist was raised over his head. Jeremiah did not fight back.

"Not like this Frank!"

Vlad's mighty voice boomed throughout the courtyard.

"Why not!? I've watched my friends suffer for too long. Now I can do something for once! I can make this cretin pay for everything!"

Rather than stop him by force, Vlad zoomed to his side.

"As hard as it is to believe, he is not our enemy anymore."

"We are all here because of him! Mavis is… dead because of him!"

Jeremiah trembled, believing in what the Monster was saying.

"Without him, we would all have been dead long ago. It is the Eldritch King that wants to destroy us, to take everything we have. Not even Lebeau knows what he has planned."

Through his anger, Jeremiah saw a small tear rest at the bottom of Frank's eye.

"I don't care… he's… a Monster."

Vlad had not heard Frank refer to their kind in such a way. He feared for him and his mind-set on his own kind.

"We won't survive what's coming. Not alone. We need to stand together, or there won't be any point to vengeance. There will be no one left to avenge them."

Frank's eyes closed as he battled his desire to finish the hunter.

"Find my son…"

They were shocked to hear Johnny's weak voice. He looked on towards Jeremiah. Whether he was to blame for what had happened or not, it didn't matter.

"…Just… bring him back."

Frank's thumb rolled over his fist.

"We need him." Vlad said to him, softer than he was used to doing.

Frank turned his disproportionate head and grit his teeth. He tossed the hunter aside and slammed his fist into the cobblestones in front of him.

"No matter what I do… I can't help them."

Vlad was not one to comfort those in pain but he knew he had to do something other than just be present. His clawed hand rested on Frank's bulky shoulder.

"You have done more for them than many friends ever would. You nearly died for them. You fight for them. You haven't failed them, not if you carry on fighting."

The words of the oracle, the words of the mysterious spectre of a past life had filled Vlad with a hell-bent determination. Even if everyone he knew refused to go on, he would continue until his body was as still as his heart. Behind them, the group watched their friend kneel in his feeling of failure.

Eunice held Mavis in her arms, entering the darkness of the dying night. She could remember the nights she would beg to hear about her mother as an inquisitive girl. It was too painful for her father to recollect, even on happier times. Eunice was her only source of stories about her mother. It was so simple back then. Eunice had never admitted how much she had cherished seeing her young eyes brighten up with each tale. Now, that girl's eyes were closed forever.

Dawn approached. The rising sun brought with it no comfort. The small stone around Mavis' neck began to glow in its ignorance. Seeing it brought Jeremiah to realise that he would never be one of them. There was no stone around his own neck. No matter what he did, he couldn't be the person Martha thought he was. He was a killer and he always would be. The orange horizon was in front of him. If he couldn't save them, then perhaps it was best that he took himself out of their life.

You couldn't help it. You will learn to control it. I know you will.

Martha's old words played again in his mind. Even when his evil instincts rose up, she was there with her unyielding belief in him. She was gone but her words were ever there. Nothing could kill the truth that there was once someone in the world that had held such faith in him. If even one person could do that, maybe, he could control who he was. It wasn't about concealing a hunter now, it was about sharing the same belief that Martha had held so strongly. A belief in the Emerald Knight.

Johnny had no care for his own pain when he saw Mavis in her aunt's arms. Gathering the strength to break away from Agatha, he hobbled towards her. His outstretched hand came to rest on her cheek as he looked down at her. She was not unlike the days he had seen her sleep beside him. He had struggled to believe how lucky he had been to meet his zing that fateful night. His travels had brought him to the one thing he had no idea he was looking for. Here she was, on the night she had been taken away from him, as if in an eternal yet peaceful sleep. The very pain in Dracula was born in him now. He gave her a final, tender kiss as his strength failed. He fell to one knee as his ability to stand alone wavered.

Agatha and Nicolae returned to his side, helping him to his feet. They were about to lead him away when a pair of glasses came hovering beside them, just above a floating bag.

"I found this." Griffin said in a quiet voice.

It belonged to Mavis. Hanging just out of the top was a small piece of wrapping paper. Inside was a present intended for Dennis.

"Give it to me." Vlad held out his palm.

Griffin did has he requested. Vlad slid the present out with a careful precision, attempting not to tear it.

"He told me about the one Martha had made. Now, this one is to share the same fate."

Jeremiah took a glance at the item.

"Martha?"

Vlad gave the hunter no answer. The distinct shape gave away what it could be to him.

"Her artwork always impressed me, but it showed me how much I couldn't see."

Her work had been a reflection of a parallel world to Jeremiah. Such beauty on each page was invisible in the real world around him. It had taken him too long to realise it was not the world at fault, but himself.

"She gave a glimpse of what I could have seen had I tried. I should have always have been grateful to her for that."

The sombre notion of what Jeremiah said was close to home for Vlad.

"You think you are the only one who became something terrible? My tunnel vision for my own legacy is what made me what I am. What good was it in the end? Now it does the same to Vincent Lebeau. People end up in harm's way because we thought we were made to kill. Choices, bah! The fool could never see what was staring right at him. None of us could until Mavis' zing."

Jeremiah listened to him intently.

"And what is that?"

"That that choice isn't final. You think because of what you did you can't be anything better? It doesn't matter if redemption is off the table. We should still strive to be better than what we were. It isn't about a reward, it's about making the future more than what we made the past."

Jeremiah hadn't realised how similar he was to the great Vlad.

"I had never thought of you to talk in such a way." He admitted his surprise.

"I've had over a decade to think about who I really am. I let the world go by thinking it was rotten. It was really me in the end."

Jeremiah's hand had formed into a fist, escaping his attention.

"I don't want to hide anymore. I will always be ashamed of what I did… but I'm done letting it hold me back, because you're right. I may be an abomination, but your family deserves a future. I just regret that I couldn't save them all." He fought back a tear.

"Sometimes you can't." Vlad's eyes turned to the horizon.

There was something that needed to be done. He placed the present back into the bag but kept hold of it.

"I need my son."

Knowing what he meant, Jeremiah nodded. In unison, the two of them transformed into bats and flew off into the approaching daylight. Watching them as they faded from view, Frank slowly rose to his feet, his eyes set on the same horizon.

…

The grey environment, dulled by an overcast sky, only added to the grimly quiet atmosphere. Rubble was strewn as far as the eye could see. The brick had cooled but evidence of what had happened was still there. No longer would the place bustle with life of all kinds. Now the whole place was a graveyard to an older, brighter time. Glass was scattered by the entrance, just one of many things that now made the place treacherous to cover. It was a testament to the wrath Monsters could bring to anyone who stood in their way.

"After everything this place has stood against, it was our own kind that brought it low." Vlad broke a silence that had been present since their departure.

It was surreal to both him and Jeremiah, for different circumstances of course.

"There was a time that all I wanted was to see this place crash and burn. Now that I have…"

Jeremiah's past continued to linger with him, following him like a clawing shadow.

"You are on the opposite side of it all now. Thoughts like that will drag you down. Trust me." Vlad's tone was more one of frustration, but Jeremiah knew it was with good intentions.

The nature of the place made it difficult to tell if the grounds were affected by the same devastation as the hotel, or if it was simply the passage of time that had reduced them to a grim fate. Many headstones had been upturned or smashed beyond recognition. One of the larger mausoleums still stood, barely. Its iron gate was lying beside it, the metal hinges failing as the stone around them had crumbled. Carved into the stone at his feet, Jeremiah made out the name that had once adorned the front of the mausoleum.

"I caused them all so much pain. Innocents like her got in the firing line. I used them as mere tools. I didn't care."

Looking back at his exploits through the centuries, he came to see them as an onlooker. Such horrific deeds couldn't have been done by him, not the person he was now. That was how it seemed, but he knew in his heart that they were all his doing, there was no excuse for it.

"I couldn't even leave the dead to rest."

Every square metre of damage felt like his doing. He may not have been responsible, but he had neglected the threat the Court of Skulls posed. He had destroyed those he had encountered and used their knowledge to create his own army, but that was as far as it had gone.

"They were always fanatics to me. Some of our kind aren't exactly the most stable of beings." Vlad searched for a way in as he spoke.

Transforming, he scouted the area high up. Much of the building was a ruin, but a few places still stood. One of which was Dracula's chamber. Inside, the place was still a mess. Smashing the remaining glass whilst taking care not to tear Mavis' backpack, he entered the room. The chamber was as grand as it was macabre. The coffin that rested atop a platform was burnt to cinders. The curtains were gone, letting the sunlight that they had once shielded their owner from now pour into the castle. On the wall behind him, Vlad gazed at a familiar painting. It was beyond repair. All that remained of the happy image were two hands in unison, symbolizing a doomed bond.

Vlad had coped with death all of his life. He had been the cause of many, so the notion of it was of little significance. His son was not like him. Life had been more of a thing to cherish for Dracula. He couldn't cope as his father did. His son had been weak in Vlad's eyes. It took too long for him to discover what it really meant. Vlad's faith in his son's strength was fading. There was no sign of him. They had hoped he would be there. It had been such a pivotal part of their life for over a century that Vlad could not fathom where else he would flee to for solitude.

Another pair of feet walked across the broken glass.

"I feel like I'm trespassing… again." he said sombrely.

"Again?" There were some things Dracula had kept secret, even with their father-son bond rekindled.

"When I first came to this place, I did so with evil intentions. I just wanted Dracula to feel the same pain I had, and to know who had caused it. In the end, I wanted more. I wanted him to die."

He looked at the destroyed painting.

"I saw it, just hanging there. It was a blessing to see her smile again, even if it was just on canvas. Even if… it was just in a stolen locket."

He broke his gaze and looked down for a moment before allowing his eyes to look back up. Vlad saw the split second expression of anger in his face.

"And there he was, right next to her. Happy, oblivious to my existence. I meant nothing. Everything I did, all of it was useless. I wasn't meant to be her knight. He was."

The couple no longer hung from the wall, but the image was still strong in his mind, even after so long.

"I let it all go to my head and I blamed them for it. I had no purpose. I'd poured everything I was into protecting her, and I felt like I'd had it thrown back in my face. Maybe it would have been best had I just died in that city with Lebeau."

He had been the only survivor. His dual nature had protected him from Lebeau's blood magic. Vlad knew the tale.

"If you had, think of what fate my family would have suffered."

Giving the current situation, he struggled to see any positive impact he had achieved. Together they broke out of their whimsy, becoming aware of the time they were wasting. Without knowledge of where Dracula was, the uncertainty of his fate began to torture Vlad. He hoped he would be strong enough to carry on.

They climbed through the rubble that blocked off the main lobby. They searched each room that still stood but as they did, they became increasingly aware of how little there was left of the place.

"He isn't here, is he?"

Jeremiah left Vlad's sentence without an answer for a moment as he quickly realised it wasn't rhetorical.

"Perhaps not…"

There was no sound but the occasional breeze that creeped through the cracks and broken walls of the castle, followed by the rare cracking of brick under their feet. Double doors were open behind Jeremiah, giving him a clear view of the swimming pool. He could imagine the fun that must have been had by the guests and owners alike. Such frivolous joys were just that to him. All of that had been robbed from his own past. He had always known that he was attempting to destroy that which he had envied himself, a normal life with the ones he loved. What he had never done was imagine what it must have been like until that moment.

Visions of Monsters laughing, in contrast to their nature, played out in his head. How different life would have been without his interference. Could it be possible that Hotel Transylvania could exist without him? Was the desire to offer protection to his kind an idea spawned in Dracula by Eustice Chaise, or was it always destined to be? Martha herself could have walked through those very halls, safe and happy. The more Jeremiah pondered on the idea, the more he hated himself for what he had taken from them.

The lack of noise from Vlad drew the ex-hunter's attention. He couldn't understand what he saw. The ancient vampire sat on the rubble that trailed outside. His eyes stared into the distance, aimless and unfocused. It was the look of a man with no purpose.

"I know so little about my own son. I don't even know where he would go."

His confidence refused to leave his voice even when his face said otherwise, forcing Jeremiah to wonder if it was all a front. It was a strange sight, two undead men in the ruins of a place that meant very different things to them. Vlad had been partly responsible for the path Jeremiah had taken and yet there they were, forced together by a greater threat. For all their cunning, they had been one step behind a lingering shadow. This was Jeremiah's game, the hunt. He had followed his prey to the ends of the Earth and that instinct was still there, if he could only harness it for something better.

Pacing, he used his surroundings to help him focus. If he were Dracula, where would he go with such intolerable grief weighing down on him? The hotel, in its current state, was a reminder of how his life had crumpled to dust. In retrospect he felt foolish for believing he would be there. There were very few places that came to mind. Whether that was a blessing or an obstacle remained to be seen. In the end, the picture of a place that unified their past came to light. Without saying a word, the hunter left Vlad behind him and paced off towards the broken entrance. Transforming, he let the warmth of the sun's rays hit him as he prepared to journey into his past.