Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay again, but like I said in the authors note, updates will be a bit chaotic. It should smooth out sometime over the next couple of months, depending on how this job goes.
Also, I'm sorry if my quality of writing tends to shake while this transition happens. I'm still trying my best, but I doubt everything will be A-material until this is over. Either way, I hope you still like the end product of each chapter.
I hope you enjoy!
Bloodgood watched over the preparations her kids planned out for their trip. A twist in her gut reminded her that she was letting children fight battles they shouldn't need to, while her logical side told her she was leaving it in the hands of those clearly experienced enough to deal with it.
Milton hadn't shared those sentiments with her, which meant he had taken a hands-off approach to all of this, deciding to keep Stoker busy in the meantime. It was honestly for the best, as it did give her an opportunity to talk to the boys before they left.
When they had a little time to themselves, mostly conversing with themselves about some new inventions. Eddy had the Fire Ring, but he seemed focused on something else. The other two were focused on other projects, apparently, but she didn't exactly have time to question it as she approached.
"Well, I can certainly say this isn't how I expected this year to turn out." Bloodgood started out conversationally, making sure no one was close. "You find a way to surprise me every day, so far. This is starting to top the last stun."
"It's not like we mean to do this on purpose. It just sort of falls into our laps." No one was as exasperated by the situation as Double D, who was still coming to terms with it. This certainly wasn't in their job description. "Ed just knows how to identify a rat, apparently. I honestly just hoped we'd find embezzlement charges but look at us now."
"And you can stop worrying about anyone hearing us. Everyone's already busy trying to figure out what we need." Ed watched as Ghoulia kept watch on basic inventory, laughing a little as she debated with Cleo on whether emergency makeup was really necessary. "I think we'll be fine talking about things right now."
"Gonna wish us luck, Bloodgood? I'm ninety percent sure we don't need it, considering what we already know." Eddy stretched, forcing a yawn down. He didn't do a good job, but it was excused considering the circumstances. "Or is it about our stay here? Because we might need to save that for later."
"It's related, if only slightly." Bloodgood looked over them, seeing how eager they appeared to be to do this. It still didn't make the pit in her gut lessen. "You do realize you don't have to do this, right? This doesn't exactly do well in protecting your identities."
"As far as anyone is concerned, headmistress, no one thinks we have anything to hide. Besides, isn't this a good buffer if things happen to go wrong?" Double D felt the urge to shrug but put it aside. He had a question to ask anyway. "That does lead me to question something; how long do we have to be in the supernatural world in order for a memory wipe to be ineffective?"
That was a good question, and one that she was prepared for. Considering it was integral for her plans, she was able to answer quickly.
"As long as you make it through a year without being deemed a threat, you should be allowed to keep your memories. Whether you're allowed to continue interacting is another story." Bloodgood raised an eyebrow. "Why do you feel the need to ask?"
"Well, that makes this whole thing better for the plan right?" Ed clapped the teacher on the back, almost knocking the dullahan's head off. "We're building plenty of good karma if we ever decide to tell anyone. We could even become ambassadors!"
"Ed, that does require the Monster and Legend worlds to be revealed for that to happen. Though you aren't wrong about your earlier statements." Double D was a little more invested in that idea. It did make a good amount of sense. "I guess this will make us considerably more trustworthy if things go awry. Though the matter that we're using this as a way to manipulate people doe bring it down a bit…"
"Ah, whatever happens. Either way, we're getting into history books because of this and I'm already beginning to picture all the glamour shots I'm going have." Eddy smirked, turning to head towards the others. "Let's head on out. I'm not letting that Stoker guy get suspicious before we even get out of here."
"Oh, right! We need to head to the vampire embassy." A weird thing to say, even to Ed, but he was pretty excited about. He waved to Bloodgood, joining his two friends as they moved towards the others. "We'll send some postcards! And maybe some stolen documents too! We'll find out when we get there!"
Bloodgood laughed, spirits slightly risen at the half-joke. As she waved, she was certain that she'd probably be receiving some very interesting souvenirs from them before the trip ended.
She watched as Eddy was given the crystal, as well as a picture of the embassy where Stoker was said to work. The general idea was that they'd start there to see what was in his office, or in any places that he could store it. At the very least, if they found things that could ruin his reputation, it would make it easier to sack him for fraud.
Eddy carefully held the crystal up, concentrating a good deal of his magic into it. A circle appeared around the group of teens. Clawdia, Hoodude, Clawd, and Draculaura seemed the most interested, not having had a closeup of it before, while the others looked in trepidation. This was technically experimental for them, so it was warranted.
As they disappeared into a flash of light, Bloodgood instinctively grabbed the wooden ghost on her keychain.
She really hoped this would turn out alright.
Transylvania, despite what most people would think, is a real place located within Europe, primarily as a region in Romania. However, what most humans in the area didn't know was that there was another region deep within it, one where very few humans have actually tread in.
Deep within a space of woods was the heartland of vampires, the oldest place in the world. In one particular part of this region, filled with darkness and creatures of the night, stood the political center of the Monster region: The Vampire Embassy.
This is where an uncharacteristic flash of light occurred, dropping off a surprisingly large group of people with it.
Double D groaned, the familiar nausea of teleportation hitting him again. He was starting to seriously consider trying to find some type of medicine to help with that.
"It looks like we've arrived." Double D was able to confirm it at a glance. The Vampire Embassy, like the rest of the region, had a distinct look that couldn't be replicated. "Thankfully, it looks open. I suppose vampires would prefer to work night shifts."
"God, I can't believe that worked." Cerise brushed the dirt off of her skirt, looking around with frank wonder "I figured that thing would land us in the human region. Or we'd be teleported ten feet off the ground or something."
"You know, we really need to work on your outlook on life. It really can be negative sometimes." Maddie grabbed Cerise's shoulders, looking deeply into the other girls' eyes. "Who hurt you, Cerise? How many stern words am I going to give them if I find them?"
"We'll plan someone's murder later, Maddie. Depending on what we find, it might be Stoker's." Clawdeen stretched, noting that the group was already collectively moving towards the embassy. "We got business to do. I'm not getting left behind in Transylvania."
"I'll make sure to get plenty of footage!" Clawdia had to catch up as she grabbed her phone. "Wait up! I want to catch everything."
It didn't take long for them to get there. Getting inside was surprisingly not a hassle considering the size of their group, though a few things became very apparent when they finally did.
The inside was packed with plenty of vampires, along with visiting dignitaries, tourists, and most importantly, security. The bottom floor was a host to everyone, meaning that any of the offices would probably be higher up.
"Okay, how are we doing this? I know we're supposed to find Stoker's office, but we can't expect to find everything there." Clawdeen could see some people were able to head upstairs from a certain stairwell, but only after some kind of inspection. "Looks like there's only one way up, but we don't exactly have any clearance."
"We can look around in his secretary's office. She's probably got a file or two we can find some stuff on." Cerise figured that Stoker would have one. Just because he wanted the office didn't mean he would want the work. "We can probably get everyone up there, but we need a distraction. A loud one."
Double D looked over the rest of their group, figuring they were coming to the same conclusions. An inkling of an idea entered his mind. It would work, though it would end up being… painful.
"Alright, I think I know what to do here. However, I will need you all to just roll with it when it starts." He grabbed Maddie's shoulder, leaning close. "Maddie, I need you to listen very closely. This all starts with you."
The boy whispered something into her ear, quiet enough to make sure the other two couldn't hear. The hatter's eyebrows pricked up at the instructions, looking at him with some confusion.
"Are you sure? That doesn't like it would be very fun on your end." Maddie received a nod, causing her to shrug. "Alright. I'm not holding back, though. Just a fair warning."
The two started heading out, followed by a confused Cerise and Clawdeen. They moved close enough to the center of the ground floor, but close enough to the two guards at the stairwell so that they would be the first to notice. With a grim look on his face, Double D simply looked at Maddie and gave her a nod to proceed.
And then Maddie slapped him in the face. Hard.
"I can't believe you!" Maddie stomped her foot, voice going shrill in believable disbelief. The other two in their party were almost concerned. "After everything we've been through, you're just throwing it all away! Just like that!?"
"It's not my fault you've been so busy lately! Running your tea shoppe, leaving me alone. What was I supposed to do, wait at home all the time?" Double D rubbed his cheek. God, that girl really did pack a punch. "And maybe you should ask her why we decided to be stay so close with each other."
Clawdeen blinked as Double D pointed at her, extremely confused. What was this supposed to be, a soap opera- oh.
"Yeah, Mads. You aren't exactly innocent in all of this either, especially since you've been seeing my girlfriend." The werewolf turned to glare at Cerise, crossing her arms. "I know I've been working hard, but that doesn't excuse being disloyal, Cerise."
"I told you, it was a one-time thing! I was weak! You cancelled so many dates, I wasn't sure what to do with myself." Cerise stomped her foot on the ground, close to crying. Whether that was genuine despair, or just shoving her laughter down her throat. "You can't ignore me and expect me to still love you like some kind of pet."
The argument was certainly enough to catch the entire crowd's attention, as well as the security guards near the stairwell. It didn't take a genius for the others to take the opportunity, using the spectacle as their window to move upstairs.
The only one that stayed downstairs to keep an eye on them was an almost hysterical Clawdia, who was recording everything with a blinding smile on her face.
"This isn't the best camera angle, but at least they're loud enough without microphones." Clawdia made a mental note to figure out the best exit here so no one got arrested. "Maybe I can get them some acting roles. They're naturals."
"I'm not going to lie; I did not think they'd go that route." Clawd started conversationally. He'd been put on lookout duty again while they filtered through the secretary's stuff, which would've been annoying if Ghoulia wasn't the best at finding things through computers. "Clawdeen's usually really bad at lying. Don't know much about Cerise though."
"I am a little surprised by that too, but I suppose we've all become a bit more morally flexible. I'm not entirely sure how to feel about that, quite honestly." Ghoulia grunted as she looked over some more useless emails, switching to the other accounts she had. Looks like she actually did try to keep her work separate from her home life. "Considering this is the second time I'm going through a person's things in a single week, I should probably be concerned about that."
"Maybe me and the guys are just a bad influence." Ed snickered, even if it was probably completely true. He was starting to wonder if his scam artist stuff was starting to rub off on people. "We can figure that out later. Stoker is even worse than we are, and I don't want to know what he'd try using Draculaura as a puppet."
"Fair enough. I'm really not looking forward to telling my parents about this." Clawd rubbed at his eyes, emotionally exhausted by all of this. He knew it wouldn't end even after they put Stoker away. "At least we aren't dealing with another human. God, they can so unpredictable."
A loud thump emanated from Ed's direction, causing the two Monsters to look. He was rubbing his head, wincing at the pain. It wasn't enough to draw blood, obviously, but the fact that it happened was still concerning.
"Is everything alright there, Ed? If you found something, maybe celebrate when you aren't headfirst in a cabinet." The joke was sarcastic, yet fond. Clawd wondered if Draculaura had a point after all. "Though, feel free to share it with us."
"Nah, I didn't find anything. Just had a muscle spasm." Ed waved it off, an obvious lie. Somehow, that seemed very uncharacteristic of him. "Actually, while we're here, can I get your opinions on something?"
Ghoulia frowned, already getting back to work. She would've shot down the idea if her curiosity wasn't already piqued. "What is it?"
"What do you guys think about humans?"
The question was somewhat surprising, though not exactly too strange. Ghoulia and Clawd did have to think about why that was important considering the mission they were on needed their full attention, but they quickly dismissed it. Maybe he had some feelings about his interaction with Hellscream he wanted to flesh out.
"I can't really say anything about them, honestly. Not like I really get out of any Monster communities a lot." Clawd shrugged, not really feeling this. His opinion wasn't exactly the highest since, y'know, a monster hunter invaded the school. "I'm not going to say all of them are like Hellscream, but he doesn't exactly bring them up to me."
"I can't really say much either, but I only have one thing to say; if it's tough for a large amount of the Monster population, i.e. zombies, to live in Monster communities, it wouldn't be much better outside of them." Ghoulia didn't sound bitter. But she certainly sounded a bit resigned. "Considering humans are usually disinterested in helping their own with similar issues like us, I'm not planning on dealing with them anytime soon."
"…yeah, that's fair. Humans can be pretty bad sometimes." Ed's agreement came with a tinge of… disappointment? Neither of them was entirely sure what that was about, but it was certainly strange. "Depends on the ones you meet, I guess."
There was an awkward silence while they kept working. It said a lot that they preferred to continue doing the illegal activity that was sure to get them on some blacklists than deal with it. One of them was bound to say something to stop it, but a discovery made them stop.
"I think I may have found something we can use, though I'm not completely sure how." Ghoulia zeroed in on one particular email that caught her attention. "Apparently, not long before he left for Monster High, he requested that several investigations be taken place in some strange places. Three of them.."
"Great, even more globetrotting." Clawd attempted to peak at the text before realizing it was all written in Romanian. "Where did he want people to start looking?"
"One in Europe, two in America. From what I can tell, it's the Monster communities of London, New Orleans, and Hollywood." Ghoulia leaned back, stroking her chin. A very strange thing indeed. "It's not the heart, but it mentions keys. To a place called Castle Dracul."
"That's probably where the Vampire's Heart is! Maybe he never had it in the first place, and it's been there the whole time." Ed typed the information down into the iCoffin before looking up in confusion. "Does it say what buildings it might actually be in?"
"No, because of course he doesn't know. It appears there were four keys, but they all went missing the same time the heat was put into the Castle Dracul." Ghoulia blinked at the date that it was mentioned. "Four hundred years ago. He's only recently bothered to figure out their destination. This is all starting to add up to something, but I'm not sure what."
"That just leads to one more question." Clawd put his chin into his hand, brain going into overdrive. "Who stole the keys in the first place?"
"You know, when you said that we were sneaking into this place, I had a few assumptions on how we'd do it." Draculaura did her best to keep pace with all of the taller people in her group, face twisted into disappointment. "I didn't think it would be this… simple."
As soon as the remaining of the group had dropped off Clawd, Ed, and Ghoulia at the secretary's office, they moved ahead to find Stoker's. They were able to find some signs pointing out where, and Eddy said the plan to get through any checkpoints was foolproof.
As far as they were concerned, they were just walking around and getting people to open up doors for them.
"Don't knock it till you try it, Gothica. As much as it pains me to say it, sometimes the simplest plans are the best ones." Eddy pretended to reach for a keycard, but a polite vampire saw it and decided to let them through anyway. He gave a vapid, thankful smile before focusing on walking again. "And in this case, acting like we belong here is the greatest one we have."
"I would argue with you on that if the results weren't apparent." Cleo made sure the nervous Apple and Raven weren't seen by most of the people walking about. They would give them away with their obviously suspicious energy. "I am wondering how this has worked so far."
"Easy; the best way to break in somewhere is to pretend you belong there, and act confused if you get caught. That way, you either get where you need to go with little resistance, or kindly get escorted out." Eddy shrugged. This was scam artist one-o-one in his opinion. "I think some people call it the Bavarian Fire Drill, but I call it the Confidence Game."
"That is… weirdly intelligent. I really don't wanna know how often you've used that." Apple nervously looked about, finally finding the Stoker's door. "And I'm very glad to say we won't need to keep playing it. It's right here."
The office was pretty obvious to see, especially since it was so well decorated in comparison to everyone else. Despite the decoration, it barely took Eddy more than two seconds to break the lock and get inside, all without anyone noticing they were there.
"Alright, now let's see if he's hiding anything else while we're here." Raven moved towards the filing cabinets, pulling out a drawer carefully. "If the heart is here, we can leave. But even if it isn't, maybe adding more charges would help our case."
"The last director I worked for got caught embezzling some money, so we can probably find something like that." Hoodude looked to see the few stares he got from that. "What? Not everything I say is a joke. Can't be funny all the time."
The group did get to work, making sure to lock the door behind them so they weren't disturbed. It didn't take long for Draculaura to find something interesting.
"You know, I'm not sure if I should be offended that he kept this painting." The vampire glared up a portrait that was hung up near one wall. It looked like a picture of her, her father, Stoker, and another girl. "He has a lot of gall considering what he's trying to get me to do."
"Why? This doesn't seem all that special." Cleo looked over the painting with a bored expression. "He probably set it up believing that it would butter you up more. Who else is in there, by the by?"
"…That's Elissabat. She used to be a good friend of mine back when the Vampire Council met up more often." Draculaura's tone was somber, looking at the painting with some form of regret. "Stoker's niece. She went missing sometime after the last ruler abdicated. We used to do everything together back then."
"She must've smelled a rat and decided to ditch Stoker at the earliest opportunity. Probably a good idea just in case." Raven looked over the features of the vampire, noting the common pale skin and dark hair. "A shame, honestly. She looks really pretty."
"Hey, maybe you can take this as a souvenir! Oh, wait that's stealing, and we probably can't sneak this out of here so easily." Hoodude tried leaning onto the wall, a hand touching the painting. "Then again, we can use magic too- oh no!"
The living voodoo doll tripped, sending the painting careening sideways. The entire group almost jumped to make sure it wouldn't fall, but a sudden click made them pause. The painting, having swung to one side, stayed in place as a panel opened up, big enough for a person to slip through.
"…Huh, what do you know. Body Pillow found a hidden passageway. Good work." Eddy moved forward, looking into it briefly. "I guess this old place probably has a few emergency exits if something goes wrong. Or they use it for storage."
"I think there's writing on one of the walls. Let me see." Apple stepped into the passage daintily, grabbing her MirrorPhone. She turned on the flashlight, seeing a huge piece of parchment attached to wall. "Draculaura, it's addressed to you."
The vampire seemed surprised by this, following close behind. She scanned the words, recognizing the Romanian letters. She slowly read them out loud, eyes growing bigger at each sentence.
Dear Draculaura,
I'm not sure when you'll find this, if you ever do at all, but I'm leaving this just in case. You're the only person I can trust right now, and I hope you find this first. You and I explored these halls so often, so I'm sure you'll find this eventually.
I'm leaving Transylvania. For good this time.
I know you're probably very confused as to why I'd do this, but I can't live under Stoker's roof anymore. I'm certain that he not only was a part of reason our previous ruler abdicated, but I think he's after the throne himself. And if I'm correct about all of this, then I'll be in serious danger if I don't leave now.
I can't explain why, mostly because I know you'll try to stop me if you did. I can't have you in Stoker's path if he decides getting his hands on me is worth any cost. But if you're dead set on helping me, look for me where theatre thrives, whether it's for the living or the dead..
If I'm right about all of this working out, then you should find three keys. And when you find them, I'll bring the fourth to you directly.
I'm sorry I have to be this vague, but it's for your safety as well as mine.
Your Friend.
Elissabat.
Draculaura blinked, tears coming out. "That's why I haven't seen her. I can't believe this."
The vampire started to cry, Hoodude taking point to comfort her. The voodoo doll looked at them with some discomfort, confused.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and assume this happened four hundred years ago." Cleo felt the gears turn in her head. "Just like everything else about this. All heading to a common date."
"And Elissabat said Stoker would look for her. He doesn't seem like the type to care about family." Raven knew people like him and that wasn't exactly an easy fit. "I'm starting to think I know who the Vampire's Heart really chose."
No one said it aloud, but everyone silently agreed with her. There were too many factors indicating it was a coincidence.
The real ruler had already been found.
Stoker slammed the door to his hotel room, growling to himself. The day had been particularly fruitless, especially when it came to talking to his patsy for a queen.
For some reason, every teacher and vampire at Monster High wanted to talk to him about the historic opportunity this presented them, along with how their little vampire could continue her education. That Bloodgood was so adamant about it, spending so long on lecturing him about it.
That didn't even start on how Ever After High's headmaster apparently wanted to talk with him about getting Draculaura extra education on how to run a kingdom. Something he definitely didn't need, otherwise the girl would begin wising up.
"Education this, education that. What happened to the good old days when nobody was forced to learn anything?" Stoker sighed, moving to the drawers in his room. He hadn't had time to check on some things involving his future patsy. "There are so many things wrong with this generation. Maybe I can change that."
He opened the drawer, looking through it carefully. He paused after a second, though, noticing that it wasn't in there. Stoker growled, closing it before opening another one, assuming it was a mistake.
"Where are my files? And where is heart?" Stoker grumbled, frustration turning into panic the longer it took. "It has to be here. I made sure to keep it in here. I specifically forbade any cleaning service to happen here."
Stoker would continue searching through his drawers throughout the night, along with his mattress and any other place he could've hidden it.
And when he found nothing again and again, he realized that some part of his game had changed without his permission.
A bit sudden, but I think it works out. The next few chapters should have more action, but I think this should keep you all satisfied.
Hopefully you all stick with me as this goes on. It's a good thing for me, but it does disappoint me when I don't deliver fully. I don't think you guys mind though.
Either way, I'll see you all next chapter!