Chapter 26 – Welcome back

A few days before Mavis 119th birthday, and also a little past eight months into her pregnancy...

The sinister forest surrounding the Hotel was still as dark and foreboding as it was last year, spreading among the towering masses of craggy rock, the smell of damp leaf rot the most pungent in the first swell of autumn. Dark and cool and crowded and crooked with straight, bristling pines and twisted, gnarled old trees, clung with fungi, lichen and mosses, where one could barely walk a step through the mists without stumbling into a gully or web or an entanglement of roots, the forest's crevasses still quiet hiding places of the old, old bones of the less fortunate wanderer.

Hotel Transylvania didn't seem to change at all, from the outside at least. It was still as majestic as ever in the natural moat of its lake, towering among the beautiful scenery of the forest and mountains. Around its grounds the ghosts and zombies still diligently held their posts in the graveyards and the land's perimeters, a shocking deterrent to human trespassers. However, while it was still looking to be an impenetrable line of defense against humans, still a place for only the monsters to rest and relax, it was now a haven from the publicity and paparazzi of the human world more than anything else. For example, since the monsters' reveal, it was discovered that Mr. Bigfoot evidently had quite the rabid fan base.

Otherwise, from the outside, it seemed that nothing had changed from the year before. But of course, appearances aren't always as they seem. After all, Johnny is now a vampire, Mavis and Dracula have become humans, and Mavis is by now quite heavily pregnant, such changes. And now others will be witness to them...


Back to the forest, the usual silence was disturbed by a hearse, speeding clumsily through the forest along the path only the driver knew to look for, barreling towards the Hotel. Through the windows, one could see that its main occupant was a tumbling mess of fur and claws, the little werewolf pups happily playing inside, much to the chagrin of their father.

"Oh, no, sure, four hours of sleep a week was plenty, I didn't need a nap anyway," Wayne grumbled, but his complaint obviously went ignored. The pups aren't showing a care in the world, continuing to tussle and wreak havoc around the increasingly cramped cabin. "Man, the pups these days, I swear they get worse every year..."

"It's alright, dear, the ride's just exciting them. We'll be at the Hotel soon, and then you can relax." Wanda said to him in a soothing voice, trying to calm him down.

"Relax, you say? Hah," he replied in a deep cynical and sarcastic tone, "Oh yeah, if you mean by wondering about which things our kids will break this year, then I'll relax all right. I still have monthly payments to settle about the minibar they threw out the window last year..." he whined, now having a defeated voice and looking very tired.

"Oh, it'll be fine. They are pretty energetic now, but they'll calm down when we'll get there...hopefully. Or at least burn off some energy." Wanda replied warmly.

Wayne sighed, trying to relax a little before they finally arrive, "Yeah, right... I guess you're right. Hey, maybe we can ask for a padded room this time."

His wife gently swatted him with a paw, a reluctant smirk on her muzzle.

He snickered, "Hey, it doesn't have to be for the kids. Anyway, I can't wait to see Drac and Mavis, it's really been a while. And Johnny too, he's such a fun guy, I wonder if he'll 'party plan' anything this year too, last year was a blast!"

Before Wanda could answer, the hearse suddenly stopped, just outside of the Hotel's main entrance. The pumpkin-head driver opened the door, only to be greeted by a wild wave of pups playfully fighting as they tumbled outside into the defenseless world.

Wanda and Wayne made it out last, with him giving a buck to the driver as a tip, "Yeah, it's a mess back there...again... Might have to start a tab, eh?"

After the zombie bellhops took their luggage (wrecking the hearse even more in the process), the werewolf family proceeded inside the Hotel.


Inside the Hotel, monsters from all over the world were there already, obviously happy to be back on familiar soil, and to attend Mavis's birthday. Whether it was skeletons, human flies, yetis, giant spiders, fish men, pretty much everyone from last year is there.

As Wanda and Wayne entered (after the pups did and started to wreck around the place, much to the chagrin of the housekeeping witches), they noticed a few things have changed. For starters, modern lights were installed, instead of old-fashioned torches and oil lamps. They could even see some TVs inside the lobby, which some of his pups decided to watch, much to his relief. He should get one of those. If a TV kept 'em quiet like that, it had to be good for them. (Or him...)

"Well, how about that, Drac finally decided to embrace some modernization. About damn time, if you ask me." Wayne muttered, a bit dumbfounded. He knew how much the Count usually hated change, so that impressed him a bit. Then again, with Johnny around, he shouldn't be that surprised.

Before he could dwell on it, he heard a loud, charismatic voice shout out gently into the lobby, "Welcome to Hotel Transylvania!" Then they saw Dracula, happily handing out brochures to the other guests, mingling as usual, the social bat.

When they approached him, Dracula was overjoyed, feeling a little nostalgic, "Wayne, my old friend! Glad you could make it!"

"Yeah, could never miss this, it's always nice to come out of the shadows for a few days." Wayne answered. Then he frowned, now getting a good look at his buddy. Something looked...off, under the light. He held himself differently, a slightest stoop to his posture. Faint, faint lines aged his eyes, and were those gray hairs at his temples? Wayne took a chance and sniffed, just quietly enough to seem casual. Even with a nose thoroughly wrecked by the changed diapers of his litters of pups, he could smell something off with the man.

"Hey, Drac, you doing okay? You, uh, you look a little...tired..." he couldn't help to ask.

Dracula winced at that remark, before quickly adopting a close-lipped smile, "It's just been an...interesting year, those can wear a man out, you know." he replied brightly.

Suddenly a zombie clumsily dropped a few boxes he was carrying, revealing Frank, or a few parts of him at least. His head bounced around a few times, before Dracula hastily caught him, fervently welcoming the distraction.

"Frank, wonderful to see you! Ever reconsider your choice of transport? I don't think you get a good scenic view traveling this way." Dracula playfully jabbed at him.

The golem scowled, "Har, har. I think I'm getting a much better view inside a box than looking out a window a thousand miles up and seeing the wing on—"

"Yeah, yeah, on fire, I know, I was just teasing you, Frankie." Dracula replied, before looking at the bellhops trying to reassemble Frank's body, yet failing miserably, placing his hand in place of his head.

"No, no, no, come on, why must you always be that dumb? Look here! In my hands! Look there! On his neck! Does that look like Frankenstein's head?!" Dracula shouted at them, tossing Frank to them, starting to become exasperated by his staff's incompetence.

"Hey, Drac, what's going on with your cape?" Wayne asked, seeing his cape being tugged weirdly. Well, he knew why, of course, but he loved to play along.

Dracula, still oblivious, replied, "What do you mean?" he jumped, "Ow! Who pinched me?!" he snarled angrily.

"Guilty!" Griffin the invisible man playfully replied, "I mean, I know who I am, but you have to start seeing this coming by now."

"Har, har, pretty funny, invisible man. Though it is nice to see you, haha!" Dracula answered slyly. Before Griffin could reply or take his glasses off, Dracula quickly gaped and pointed, "Oh, my! Is that an invisible woman?"

Griffin spun around quickly, searching frantically, "Woah, what?! Where?!" Then he paused, frowning, "Wait." Too late, Dracula had slapped a strip of bacon to his back with a piece of duct tape, and within moments the invisible man was swarmed by Wayne's hungry little brood.

Dracula wiped his forehead in relief as Griffin flailed away. Fistfight avoided.

A huge sandstorm appeared, passing through the main door. A playful voice could be heard at the top, a huge mummy sliding down his own typhoon of sand, "And the party don't start 'til I walk in~!"

"Murray! Glad you could make it!" Dracula shouted at him.

"Drac! How are ya?" Murry asked, before attempting to hug him.

Dracula evaded his hug, glaring, slightly squinting as the grains flying off the mummy and in the lobby air irritated his eyes, "Murray? Really? The sand, Murray, the sand, always with the sand! You do this every year, it is driving my cleaning staff crazy!"

Suddenly, a muffled, yet familiar and slightly nagging voice came from the other box that came with Steins, "Frank, are we there yet?! Seriously, I keep tellin' ya we gotta start booking soon as we get here!" she told him, while her parted hand undid the box to reveal Eunice, in pieces like her husband.

All in all, so far it looked like everything was normal, like each year. Still, like Wayne did, Frank, Griffin and Murray could sense that something was wrong with Drac...


A little while later, after his usual speech on his toadstool (literally, it was a stool made of toads), he decided to go to Mavis's room to check on her, as usual at this time of the year. However, what was unusual is that he requested his friends, who were like uncles and aunts to Mavis, to accompany him directly, stating that he had something to show them.

That was a bit unusual of him to propose that, when he usually went to check on her by himself, so they wondered why Drac wanted them to see Mavis directly. They were a little uneasy, though they felt that they soon would get the answers to their questions if they tagged along.

When they arrived in front of her door, he knocked carefully, "Honey? Are you there? Can we enter? I've brought your uncles and aunts with me."

A few seconds later, the door opened, and they saw Mavis, smiling brightly, followed by Johnny, "Hi, guys, it's been so long, I missed you!"

Expecting a response, Mavis was surprised by the expression of her uncles and aunts, they were frozen in place, their mouths wide open. "Um, guys, what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like tha—?" Mavis asked, before freezing and facepalming, a blush on her face, "Oh, right..."

Mavis' appearance changed drastically, if you compared her to what she looked like on her 118th birthday. Her body got more curvy all around, because of her pregnancy, and her belly was quite huge now. In fact, her body had almost the same shape as Wanda's body of last year.

"Woah, mama?" Griffin chuckled nervously.

"Yeah... I guess we have some explaining to do..." Mavis said, thinking out loud, while Johnny held her shoulder to comfort her.

"No kidding!" everyone said in unison, making Dracula wince, obviously uneasy at them learning the horrible truth. Still, they were his dearest friends, he owed them honesty at the very least. Plus, they are part of his family, his, and Mavis's...

Mavis, seeing her dad a little uneasy, became uncomfortable herself, she knew that she had to tell them the truth, even if the truth was horrible. She looked at Johnny, remembering how this all started, how she had met him, her zing, and this gave her the courage she needed to speak.

"Okay... I will, but you might wanna sit down, this will be a long story..." she said softly, but with a tone of confidence. They all complied, excited to learn about Mavis's and Johnny's tale, yet a bit worried too. After all, none of them were informed that Mavis got pregnant, so that raised a red flag in their minds.

After they all sat, Mavis took a few deep breaths, gathered her thoughts, before starting, "Well... A lot of things happened since last year. I guess I'll start with the beginning. A few weeks after you all left, I, uh," she bit her lip, "Kind of almost died..."

"What?! How?!" shouted Wayne, outraged by what his niece just said. Wanda looked downright horrified, and everyone else was too shocked to even move.

Mavis's shoulders straightened, to strengthen her will, she knew that this kind of reaction will come again plenty of times the more she'll explain. She dryly replied, "Well, the zombies, while doing some of the renovations, they made that silver chandelier fall in the lobby. Unfortunately, I happened to be right below it when it did and..."

Now it was Eunice's turn to get angry, she exploded, eyes livid, "Drac! How many times have I told you to get rid of that stupid chandelier?! It was made of silver! SIL-VER! Do I gotta spell it out?! Why did you keep it?!"

Dracula replied with a snap, feeling a bit guilty, yet also wounded, "I know! I know! But," his face fell, "It was a wedding gift when I married Martha... I couldn't get rid of it..."

Everyone looked a bit glum, remembering the kind, lovely Martha. No one dared utter a word for a few moments, until Mavis broke the silence again, "Anyway...yeah, I almost died, but before I did, Johnny saved my life by giving me some of his blood."

"Aww, well ain't that romantic..." Eunice sighed, Wanda looking at Johnny with soft eyes. "Hardcore, man." Murray whistled in admiration. The others gave their approval, clearly proud of Johnny's heroic behavior.

Mavis looked at Johnny, a huge smile on her face, which he returned to her, blushing. She was equally proud to be his zing, to be loved so much by someone.

Johnny cleared his throat, feeling it was his turn to explain, to give Mavis a small breather. "And I'm glad I did, I don't know what I would've done if she died..." he murmured in relief, before his fall fell a little and continuing in a darker tone, "But there was some side effects with that move... She started to become addicted to my blood. And, like an idiot, when she was struggling with herself to not take any more blood from me, I...went ahead and gave her my blood anyway, thinking I was making her happy, but, that really did more harm than good..."

No one dared utter a word. Mavis's uncles and aunts can still remember a time where Blood Beaters didn't exist, when Dracula and Martha were often forced to deal with the addictiveness of human blood. Even though they were the kindest vampires they knew, even they had troubles controlling themselves sometimes. They shuddered when they thought how Mavis must have felt, being suddenly exposed to what it's like to be addicted to something like that.

Dracula then took the baton, and continued for both Johnny's and Mavis' sake, "Fortunately, Mavis didn't drink too much of his blood, so she was able to beat her addiction within a week." He said that with a cheeky smile, proud of his daughter for achieving that feat, instead of giving in to her basic instincts, like so many vampires did.

However, his smile quickly vanished, dreading what was about to be said. He knew that explaining the worst part of their tale was just around the corner, and all the charisma in the entire world wouldn't be enough to hide his unease. However, it had to be done, he owed everyone that much, at least.

Mavis sensed that, too, so she decided to speak once more, she wanted to have the burden to reveal what happened. With a frown on her face, pained to remember these painful memories, she spoke, "However, since then, much worse things has happened. This will be tough to hear, really tough, but, please, promise you'll let me speak, without interrupting me."

Everyone exchanged glances, not too sure what to make of that, and beginning to be frankly very worried. Really, what could be worse than Mavis almost dying?

Finally, Wanda spoke, on a motherly tone, "Alright, sweetie, just please tell us what happened to you, get that weight off your chest."

Mavis weakly giggled, "Thank you, Aunt Wanda, this means a lot to me. Well, here's what happened..."


She then proceeded to tell them about everything that has transpired, about Johnny's "death", how she tried to change him into a vampire, but failed, about her depression, her despair, her suicide attempt... She looked on everyone's faces, she could easily tell that they were too horrified to even speak, shame made a nauseous weight in the pit of her stomach. Sighing heavily, she continued, telling them how she became pregnant, and insisting that, while done now, it was wrong. She told them of the Lamias, how she made a pact with her, becoming a human in exchange for healing Johnny, and how her father made his own pact with her, to allow Mavis to become a vampire once more, when she would want to. Of course, and this was the hardest part, but Mavis told them about what her father did, he lost to his bloodthirst, and almost killed her. She told them how both of them became humans, due to the Lamias's twisted idea of fun. She told everyone about the rift between her and her dad, about their shattered bond. They got closer, yes, but not as close as they were before, and she's afraid things will never be the same now.

Exhausted mentally, and physically, she breathed heavily, letting the air invade her lungs, to calm her down, wiping at her face. Tears were flowing on her cheeks, due to the trauma of having to relive what happened to her, yet, somehow, she also felt a bit better, like a weight really was lifted from her shoulders.

However, it took several moments for her aunts and uncles to process what they just heard, shaking in the process. Eunice abruptly stood up and marched over to Dracula to give him a vicious slap, the sound of it ringing harshly through the room, fit to make his head snap to the side. She waited until he slowly faced her again, his eyes wide, his cheek growing red with faint lines scored in it (she really did have nails), before she slapped him again without remorse, "You. Total. Jackass." she snarled flatly.

Dracula, heavily wounded by her blunt words as much as her blows, could only utter defeatedly, "I have no excuses... I failed her as a father..."

Mavis protested, trying to intervene between her father and her aunt, "C'mon, Dad, we already went over—"

But Eunice was livid, looking ready to strike the Count again, his humility somehow even more infuriating, "Ooh, If Martha were here to see you, I swear!"

Everyone else raged in their own ways too, Frank was quite upset that Johnny did die in a way, and about what happened to Mavis, making him cry, and electrocute himself in the process. Wayne was quite baffled at how Mavis got pregnant, not too sure what to make of it. Murray was horrified that they had to deal with the Lamias's cruelty. Griffin vented by being sarcastic and quite lewd. So, in short, everyone was devastated, in their own ways.

Wanda spoke last, after things quieted down. She didn't sound angry, just sad, yet without judging anyone, "Poor Mavis," she looked at Johnny and Vlad, "All of you... This really was a horrible year, wasn't it? Why didn't you tell us before? We would have happily come over to help."

Mavis's face slumped at that question, now the focus of the gathering, everyone still standing tense from their various grudges, but she answered anyway, not wanting to back away, "Because I didn't want to worry you, I...I wanted to keep things to myself. I realize now that that's wrong, stupid, s-selfish, all of that..." She looked at the floor, at her stomach, voice shaking, "Please forgive me, all of you..."

Wanda didn't need to hear any more, she hugged Mavis sweetly, like a mother would hug her daughter, tears flowing from her eyes too, "Shh, it's okay, sweetie, it's over now. We're there for you now, so things will be okay..."

Everyone else followed suit, and it became a group hug, with Mavis being at the center of their love. She could only cry, and she cried loudly, very loudly, hiccupping as Wanda's gentle paws patted at her shoulders, as various hands ruffled soothingly at her hair. It wasn't just sadness, she was crying from happiness, from relief, because of the unconditional love she was receiving from her family...

They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. It felt safe, strong, and warm.

For the first time in a long while, Mavis felt that things could perhaps go back to how they were...


Author's note: I'm so sorry for taking so long! I was pretty busy lately, with my job being very demanding since I got back from my vacations.

Sorry again for the slowness of my updates, and thank you for those that are still following me. No matter how erratic my updates will be, I will finish this story, don't worry. I hope that you liked this chapter, I always wanted to borrow the spirit of the movie at least for one chapter, and, it was a nice occasion to do a sort of recap. I hope you enjoyed it.

And, once more, a BIG thank you to hatchlingpendragon, which embellished and polished my chapter so much. It was a masterful job, thank you!