I dedicate this fanfiction to my girlfriend and all my readers, reviewers and the beta reader wallaceb.
September 28, 2012 - September 28, 2013
Yes, I know, in your country it's not yet September 28 when I publish this chapter, but now in Greenwich Mean Time is midnight.
One year has passed from the official relase of Hotel Transylvania in American theaters.
Happy Birthday Mavis!
CHAPTER 31 - Choices
The increasingly dense trees obscured the moon and the stars and soon the only lights that Victoria was able to see were those of fireflies scattered through the woods making that moment almost romantic. Of course, despite being embraced to the vampire, she could not feel the warmth of his body, but after all the huntress had no idea what it feels like to be in such close contact with someone; the memories of her mother were now faded and her father was always too busy to care for her.
Victoria hugged Dracula with more strength in her arms, and he watched her curiously as he continued to rush.
Unfortunately the wilderness terrain rich in vegetation was too steep even for a monster of his level, especially with Victoria in his arms.
"Hang on." The vampire muttered and without waiting for an answer from the girl, he disappeared in a violet light and reappeared soon after.
Victoria, who was first launched into the air, fell and landed on the back of something soft and furry. The huntress looked for a better view, it was a big black wolf, a difficult transformation for a common vampire, but certainly not impossible for the great Dracula.
"What a beautiful big dog! Do you have a pedigree?" The girl said, chuckling.
The wolf growled and Victoria replied with a bored puff.
With the agility of the vampire it took only a few minutes for the two to come up to where the forest suddenly interrupted. Drac stood on the cliff edge, while Victoria was astonished by the immense castle that stood in the middle of the lake.
"It's... It's incredible!"
"And you have not seen anything of what is inside!" Dracula proudly exclaimed. "You are the first human to have the honor of my approval to enter... I never thought to bring a human in it, especially a Van Helsing. I hope I don't regret it."
Having said that Dracula jumped off the cliff and landed on the long bridge and began to tread quickly.
"Can you hide yourself? It has already been a scandal to let Jonathan in the hotel even though he is a good boy; the hotel Transylvania is and must remain a human-free place."
"Are you afraid of ruining your business because of me? Anyway no, I lost my jacket and hat in the woods." Victoria replied.
"Tsh! Business? We monsters are not attracted to money like you; maybe that's why we live in peace. The stay is by free offer." The vampire barely had time to finish the sentence that with a jump, so unexpected that it almost dislodged Victoria, Drac threw himself from the bridge and landed on the island at the foot of the castle and then turned human again.
"Could you at least warn me before jumping?" Victoria grumbled, holding her aching back.
"Learn to complain less lady." Dracula grumbled without looking at her, in fact, he was busy shaving some dry sticks one by one until one of them rather than breaking away from the earth it seemed to slide and in a moment a big rock not far from them opened in two showing a secret passage dug into the hill.
The two entered the dark cave, but with a snap of the vampire's fingers a long line of torches on the wall illuminated.
The couple went down the corridor without saying a word until they came to a dead end.
Dracula grumbled something under his breath, he seemed angry.
Meanwhile, Victoria walked over to him and went to the wall.
"I feel a draft, another secret passage? Brilliant!" The girl exclaimed, trilled.
Drac turned surprised.
"Uh, yes, of course... I designed it to facilitate the escape of injured monsters during a possible human attack. What did you think that I had missed it? Wait for me here. I will check that no one is there."
Having said that he disappeared and then he re-materialized over the wall, he was in an empty room of the infirmary.
The vampire peered furtively from the door of the room and looked around, there was no one.
Dracula turned and found himself face to face with Victoria, who had followed him stealthily, he jumped back throwing open the door and falling on the corridor floor.
The vampire was not yet used to the ability of the girl to hide her presence in such a superfine manner.
"What the hell are you doing? You had to wait for me while staying hidden!" The vampire exclaimed, angry, still trying to keep a low tone so they were not heard.
"I seem to be able to hide myself better than you, you know?" Said the girl, proud of herself, resting her hands on her hips.
Just at that moment the door of the next room opened and Dr. Jekyll walked out, and stared curiously at Dracula who was still lying on the floor. The count, fearing that he could see the human; used his powers to close the door violently.
"Lord, have you heard of your daughter?" The nobleman asked.
"Yes, but I need the help of the boy to bring her home." Answered the Count trying to keep his voice calm.
"But, sir," The doctor exclaimed, astonished, "The transformation of the human into a vampire is not complete yet! I myself find it hard to keep him immobilized in bed! "
"I have a plan." Dracula cut him short.
"What's this?"
"You are limited to vacate the infirmary."
"It will be done." Jekyll replied nodding his head, "The nursemummys are resting in their sarcophaguses. If you'll need their help just call them."
That being said the doctor walked up the stairs to exit the infirmary.
The count breathed a sigh of relief and turned to the door that he had closed just before and then he reopened it.
"All clear..." The vampire's voice trailed off weakly and then he almost burst out laughing at seeing the girl leaning against the wall with one hand and with the other she tried to stop the blood coming out from her nose.
"What the hell are you laughing at? You almost broke my nose slamming the door in my face." Victoria replied, indignantly.
"You deserved it. If instead of doing it your way where you'd have waited for me, you wouldn't have gotten hurt. Now stop complaining and follow me." Answered the grumpy vampire.
That being said the Count walked to another door that he opened. It was the room where he was holding Jonathan. The young man was still lying on the bed, on one arm he had an intravenous drip and in his chest the dagger was still stuck dripping with the blood of a human corpse.
The guy was breathing heavily and when they entered he turned toward them and began to squirm and scream with all the strength in his body, fortunately the straps held him pinned to the bed and the seal under him blocked his magical powers. But despite being confined in the bed his hungry gaze turned to Victoria who was scared even though she was used to the worst monsters.
"I don't think he is capable of saving someone, you know?" Victoria said, puzzled, "More than one day has passed since he was bitten, but he has not yet regained some sense of normality, it's strange..."
"No, it's not strange. Without human blood the transformation is very slow, if not impossible..."
The girl walked over to Jonathan, who continued to roar against her, but she did not care, meanwhile Dracula was next to her, though well aware not to come within the magic circle.
Victoria picked up the drip and read the label, seeing the seller information from an infomercial:
"Similsan, artificial blood adapted to the diet of all the magical creatures, even for children. 100% human-free. Minimum contents of magical charge 436 mega calories. 95% perfluorocarbon-based oxygen carriers, 5% fairy dust. Only natural flavors..." Then she concluded by raising an eyebrow in confusion, "What's that?"
"That with which I feed," The vampire began to explain, "Synthetic blood with a slight magical charge. Not very useful to quench the thirst of a vampire in the process of transformation." Drac said in a serious tone, thoughtful.
Victoria looked into his eyes; she knew what the count was thinking.
"I know what you want, and for me that's fine." She said.
"I do not care for your permission." Dracula replied, annoyed, "It's just that I'm afraid that your blood is not enough to calm Jonny."
Dracula turned and took a few steps to reflect, Victoria reached him.
The two were silent, the echo of the screams and moans of Jonathan in the underground room were deafening, but the couple paid no attention.
"Wishing there would be another solution..."
Drac turned his gaze to the human with curiosity.
"You have given the boy only synthetic blood, if he has not yet consumed human blood, we can block his transformation."
He stared at the huntress, puzzled and surprised by the knowledge of the girl.
"How do you know these things? The purification ritual you speak of is a very powerful and dangerous black magic, it requires an important sacrifice and Jonathan might not survive; indeed, his soul itself could be destroyed in the process. We also need the fresh blood of the vampire who has bitten him and I could only get that from what my daughter lost during the surgery to remove the arrow..."
Hearing those words Victoria looked away from the vampire in shame for what she had done, then Drac continued:
"But it's been a whole day and now all the spirit contained within it will have dissipated."
The girl looked up and pulled a dagger from a pocket of her trousers, Dracula put his hand behind his back ready to unsheathe his rapier, but Victoria did not seem to want to attack.
She unscrewed the bottom of the handle of the dagger and from it emerged a small test tube which had some drawn on symbols some interlacing similar to tribal, and it contained blood.
In a blink of an eye Drac snatched that test tube from the hand of the girl and began to yell violently against her, although they seemed more roars than words:
"WHAT WERE YOU PLANNING TO DO WITH THE BLOOD OF MY DAUGHTER?!"
The girl did not flinch, and answered truthfully and with a calm that left the furious monster stunned.
"I wanted to do a summoning spell to bring her into a trap and kill her with ease. Those seals block the loss of magical energy and the soul from that sample of her blood."
The coldness of the young girl left Dracula speechless, his blood was boiling in his veins, but he forced himself to remain calm.
Dracula turned away; he knew that he could not talk to the huntress without blowing his anger.
"It's true, if Jonathan became a vampire your blood might not suffice to quench his thirst, but no, I don't want to risk it."
"And if he was a violent vampire? He may worsen your daughter!"
Dracula gritted his teeth and put his hand on his forehead, he was going to make a decision that would change the fate not only of himself and of his daughter, but also of the all monsters and humans.
"There's only a thing I can do."
Yes, I know, I said that you would have until Chapter 30 to vote for the future of Jonathan, but as my usual I miscalculated the future chapters and the actual number of chapters before the return of Jonathan is increased. So this is your last chance to vote or to change your decision.
For now I can tell you that the future is still uncertain because we have a total of 11 against 12 in the three sites where I published the story.
Thanks to everyone for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if so a review is always welcome :-D
See you soon!