Chapter 6: Let the Family Vacation begin!
It was 10 PM that night at the Transylvania airport, the very same airport where Ericka and Johnny had almost left in during the first movie. The Drac Pack, including Danny , was waiting outside the building for Ericka's family and friends, and Johnny's family, to get here. It wasn't long before a few taxis rolled up to the side. The Loughrans, the Van Helsings, Molly's family all packed and ready to go. A lot of hugs and warm greetings were exchanged between families and friends. Dennis and Martha gave his cousins a fist bump or a high-five. Luna gave her cousins a big hug. Then Johnny turned to give Linda hug while his family warmly greeted him and Mavis. Frank had Johnny's brother Kent locked in a bone-crushing head lock, while the poor man struggled to let go, which he did, and Kent took a deep breath.
"Hello everyone, we're here!" Linda announced cheerfully.
The second Andrei gets out of the car, he was greeted by his daughter.
"Hi,Brother ." Ericka came over to give him a welcoming hug.
"Hi, Ericka ." Andrei returned the hug with equal affection.
Luna wanted to greet her uncle as well, so she rushed up to him with incredible speed, calling, "Hi, Uncle Andrei!"
Andrei broke the hug between Ericka and scooped down to his niece to lift her off the ground and twirled her around in the air for a while. "Hey there, my little pumpkin. How's my favorite niece ?" He started to tickle Luna.
Luna giggled, telling him, "Hehe, I'm fine,Uncle, stop it!"
Once Andrei stopped and set his niece back down, Diavolo cooed as he reached out for a hug, not wishing to be left out. Smiling, Andrei picked up his infant nephew and playfully tossed him in the air. "And how's my big boy?" he asked affectionately. Then Adrian sneezed a long booger out of his nose, shocking Andrei, who handed the baby back over to his mother, so he could wipe Diavolo's nose with a handkerchief.
"Are you excited about this vacation, grandpa?" Luna asked.
"Of course, I'm looking forward to spending time with you," Andrei answered, before turning to Ericka. "By the way, do you know where we're going?"
"No idea," Ericka replied. "Mavis wants to keep it a surprise until we get there, which is killing Drac."
"ERICKA !" Grace's famous perky voice interrupted their conversation.
Hearing that familiar voice, Ericka set Diavolo in his baby carriage and, once the two women saw each other, they excitedly ran toward one another and locked arms around them in the most affectionate embrace ever.
"I can't believe you made it," Ericka cheered, looking really happy to see her best friend.
"And miss out a chance to spend a vacation with my best friend and her family? There's no way I could pass on an opportunity like that!" Grace told her.
"So I hear your books have become a best seller online," complimented Ericka .
"Thanks, but its you I should be thanking." Molly flashed a proud grin, displaying two hard book volume copies read HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA. "I was inspired by your adventures at Hotel Transylvania that I had to write a novel series. Fans thinks those are better than the annoying Monsters Are Not Your Friends series." But her grin faded sadly. "Although I did promise my fans a third book, all I do is sit and stare at the blank page. I've got nothing."
"I'm sure you'll find inspiration while on vacation," Ericka assured her friend.
Molly glanced around at the rest of Ericka's family and friends and politely commented about it. "The family looks beautiful. Your friends are looking great. Luna still looks cute as ever, especially Diavolo."
"Thank you," Ericka replied happily.
But then, Molly noticed the tall man standing by his lonesome while playing with his iPhone and wondered who he was. "Who is that guy? Is he a chauffeur or something? He's cute, but he looks lonely," she asked, feeling sorry for the man.
Ericka realized who Molly was pointing to and explained to her who he was. "Who, Danny ? Oh no, he's not a chauffeur, he's coming with us on the vacation."
"Oh, then who is he?" Molly gazed at him curiously.
"Well, it's kind of hard to explain," Ericka shrugged awkwardly. "But basically to sum it up, he's the descendant of Drac's first love... and she's not Martha, just so you know."
The news made Molly's jaw drop. "OMG!" she gasped. "Drac was in a relationship with a human before you?"
"Yeah, I know I was shocked too when I found out. But it was in the 19th century, so I can't be mad about it forever."
"Who was this chick anyway?"
Ericka sighed. "You read Bram Stoker's novel Dracula? Much less, see the movie?"
"Yes, where are you going with this?" Molly raised an eyebrow.
"Danny is the great-grandson of Mina Parker."
"Wait! You mean the Mina Parker?!" Molly gawked at her, then gawked at Danny , and then back at her.
"Yep! Danny said his great-grandmother sacrificed everything to be with Dracula, despite the scandal it caused in the monster world and in the human world," Ericka told her friends.
"How romantic!" Molly sighed dreamily, then her eyes widened. "What scandal? You mean like the whole setting monsters back again kind of thing?"
Ericka nodded. "You could say that."
"So, what happened to her if she wanted to be with him?"
That's when Ericka became hesitant to tell her. "That's the only part Drac won't tell me about."
"Why not?" Molly asked.
"I guess whatever happened to her he's just too sad to talk about it," Ericka responded.
Once everyone was done greeting each other, Mavis grabbed everyone's attention to make the announcement. "Hey everyone, thank you for coming with us on this family vacation. But before we get ready to check in for our flight, I want to introduce you all to our new friend who's coming along with us." She gestured Danny to come next to her so she can show him to everyone. Once he came over she introduced him, "Everyone, this is Danny Parker. He saved my brother's life a few nights ago."
Danny stared at the crowd of warm greetings and happy faces, some waving at him. Awkwardly, he waved back with a strange smile. Everyone was glad to meet him and said hello to him.
On their way through the airport, Danny was the only one frowning in total disgust and frustration, eyeing the two species engaged in conversation or catching up like good times with such a look of hatred that no one the wiser seemed to notice. "Humans and Monsters are mingling together like they are friends! What is wrong with these people? Don't they know they're being corrupted by these devils? They're so ignorant!" he grumbled silently.
"So, dude, how did you get acquainted with these cool monsters?" Andrei casually slid an arm around Danny's shoulders.
"Filthy leech!" Danny mumbled under his breath quietly.
"I beg your pardon?" Andrei wasn't sure if he heard him right.
"Uh, I mean, I met the Count and Countess when I saved their baby from the chandelier coming down on him," Danny quickly told him, trying not to sound suspicious.
At this response, the humans were shocked to hear that such a thing happened to them.
"But he was able to save my son," Dracula immediately assured everyone, before his father leaned in. "Why didn't you tell them you were ambushed by monster hunters?" he whispered sharply.
"I don't want everyone panicking about these hunters," Vlad snapped quietly. "It could ruin Mavis's surprise, and I don't want to worry her."
"Oooh! I can hardly wait to see what kind of plane we'll be riding on!" Molly squealed.
High in the nighttime sky, a white 747 jet plane flew smoothly across the sky. Those people on that plane were the lucky ones. However, behind that plane was another one. The jumbo Gremlin Air plane struggled across the sky with great difficulty. The junky old 1940s plane was bumping up and down while several unnecessary parts fell off, or what if they were necessary.
There were two green gremlin pilots flying the plane. When a bird's poop hit the window shield, one of the gremlins crawled out of the plane and smeared the bird poop all over the pilot's window. The pilot couldn't see, but he didn't seem to care and he gave him a thumbs-up. Back in the cabin, there was chaos as the gremlin flight crew acted wildly like savages, throwing bags in the aisles and breaking every rule of human flight attendants, and it made the human riders uncomfortably scared.
A lady gremlin flight attendant stood in the front of the plane, announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen, please direct your attention to the front of the cabin." She held up a seat belt prop to do a demonstration. "For your safety, please unbuckle your seat belts."
A cyclops monster did as he was told and unbuckled his seat belt, just before the plane hit some major turbulence. He went flying through the roof of the plane and landed outside on the tail. He still hung on tight, but olly looked concerned, so she disobeyed the rules for the right reason, and advised the other humans to wear their seatbelts.
"Nobody take off your seatbelts," Molly whispered, passing it along to the other frightened humans. "I wish I had known sooner gremlins were the pilots."
The flight attendant continued on with her speech, "In the unlikely event that we experience a sudden drop in cabin pressure, oxygen will be provided."
At that moment, a gremlin dropped down from the ceiling above Dr. Jekyll, who was quietly sitting in his seat. The gremlin grabbed Jekyll's face and blew into his mouth, making his eyeballs pop out like a cartoon character.
Another flight attendant went up to another monster who was holding his bag in his lap. "Can I stow that for you, sir?"
"All right, thanks," the monster replied.
The gremlin immediately took his bag and threw it out the plane window, barely missing a stunned Frank and Eunice.
Along came another flight attendant who pushed a snack trolley. "Beverages! Beverages! Snacks! Snacks! Beverages! A second gremlin was riding on top of the snack trolley, and he was also throwing food or drinks in every direction. "Beverages! Snacks! Beverages! Snacks! Beverages! Snacks! Beverages!" The trollies sped through the aisles, one of them hit a monster's elbow and it spun all the way around.
The Fly stepped into the aisle and was immediately run over by the snack cart, his eyeballs falling off in the process, grossing out Gerald to the point of nearly barfing.
"Beverages! Beverages! Snacks! Beverages! Snacks!" the gremlin kept on going.
A yeti shrieked painfully when his foot was crushed by the snack cart's wheel.
Another flight attendant met Murray, asking for his drink request, "Coffee?"
"Sure," Murray answered, but in response the gremlin poured hot coffee directly into Murray's lap to where the sun doesn't shine, causing the poor mummy to scream.
In the several rows behind him, everyone may be excited for their big trip, despite the humans' fear of the dangerous flight with gremlins, Dracula was the only one complaining, as he nervously fidgeted in his seat next to his precious eldest daughter Mavis.
"Mavis, pleeeease, you're torturing me!" Dracula whined to his daughter.
"This is a fun surprise," Mavis retorted calmly.
"You know I hate surprises!" he exclaimed, but whispered, "except when your mother has something special for me." Dracula resumed whining, "Just tell me where we're going." He looked around. "Why are we on a plane? We can fly, you know."
Vlad, who was sitting behind them beside Luna, chimed in, "Back in my day, people took trains. Now, that's classy."
Peering up over his seat, Dracula rejected his father's idea that trains were better, despite having traveled in one centuries ago before his unexpected reunion with a certain ex-girlfriend and crazed monster hunter. "Sure, Dad, forty hours in a closet-sized room with you and Uncle Bernie and his smelly cigars, arguing who was more attractive, Cleopatra or Nefertiti."
"Ahhh, Nefertiti." Vlad leaned back against his seat, sighing happily.
"Okay, Dad, thank you," grunted Dracula, sitting back down in his seat.
Mavis and Luna giggled in response.
Resigned, Dracula gave his daughter an affectionate look before it turned whiney, "Mavis, this is such an amazing surprise, and I can't wait to spend time with the people I love most, but I beg of you..." his voice got louder as he hollered, "TELL ME WHERE WE'RE GOING!"
"Nope, I've taken care of everything so you don't need to worry," Mavis refused, gently placing a hand on her father's shoulder, making him smile a little. "You've been stressed out lately. It's time for you to relax."
Mavis pushed a button and her father was suddenly leaned back against his seat, immediately put headphones in his ears, a neck pillow around his neck, and slipped a sleep mask over his baffled eyes. Then she took off his shoes and put on slippers. Dracula peeked out from his eye mask as Mavis covered him a blanket. Forcing him to relax, she took out some lotion and massaged it onto his face.
"Now, isn't that better?" Mavis asked, looking proud at all she'd done.
"Oh ho-ho, ye-he-hes. Soooooo relaxed." Dracula sat up in his chair, lotion smeared all over his face, his hair messed up and his mask slightly off. He looked, sounded, and felt ridiculous.
A little further down the row of seats, Ericka glanced over her seat to check up on her husband and daughters. She was relieved they were fine, but the second Dracula caught his wife's green eyes, his expression darkened. Ericka was briefly surprised, but she scowled at her husband's cold blue eyes. Neither of had spoken to each other since their big fight over her decision to become a vampire. Descending back to her seat, Ericka sighed and read a magazine to preoccupy herself. Diavolo was seated in-between her and Molly, sucking on his bat pacifier.
Molly noticed how the scene played out, witnessing the married couple ignoring each other coldly. "What's wrong? You two are usually all over each other and Lovey-Dovie. What happened?"
Ericka glanced over her seat to make sure her family wouldn't eavesdrop. "Promise me you won't tell anyone about this, especially my father." Molly nodded, and the brunette sighed, "I want to become a vampire."
Molly couldn't believe her ears, she stared at her childhood friend in disbelief. "YOU WANT TO BECOME A VAMP-" Her mouth was clapped by two hands since Ericka covered her mouth to keep her shouting it.
"Shhh! Keep it down!" Ericka shushed her, before removing her hands and decided to explain herself. "Look, I thought about this for a while if it's the only way I can live alongside Drac as an immortal vampire."
"I understand," Molly agreed. "But why hasn't he bit you yet?"
"Drac keeps refusing to do it because he believes I'll go crazy, lose all sense of humanity and hurt someone, which I will never do because I love my friends and my family."
"I know you'll never hurt us, even after you become a vampire..." Molly assured her, even though she looked slightly upset, "and you get to live longer and I'll get older..."
The realization hurt Ericka a lot more than a punch to the face. If she became a vampire, her human family and human friends will die of old age. If that wasn't bad enough, Johnny and his human family and friends will die of old age... unless Johnny could become a vampire, to spare Mavis and Dennis the heartbreak of losing him. Behind them, Johnny was sitting in the next row with Dennis, Martha ,Willie and Winnie sharing the same seat. Johnny was gazing timidly out the window.
Taking this opportunity as a distraction, Dennis and Martha whispered over to their werewolf friends, "I'm gonna go check on you know who." Then he announced loudly, "We have to go to the bathroom." That way, their dad wouldn't guess the truth.
At the same time that Dennis and Martha snuck off, Johnny was startled by a gremlin growling outside the window. He turned to Winnie and Willie, asking, "Did you see that?"
Winnie ,Willie were so nervous that Dennis and Martha could be caught that she blurted, "DENNIS AND MARTHA WENT TO THE BATHROOM!"
"Uhhh... okay..." Johnny thought that sounded normal.
As Dennis, Martha with an awkward grins, strolled down the aisle, they made it to the back of the plane where he snuck into the baggage area where they had hidden away his stowaway.
"Psst, where are you?" Dennis and Martha called out in the darkness.
Tinkles whimpered loud enough to get his attention. His huge eyes peeked out from a large pile of suitcases and luggage. The little red curly headed boy climbed up the pile to the top where he gently hugged Tinkles to calm him down.
"Don't worry, Tinkles. We're almost there," Dennis, Martha told their puppy, but then they heard a voice through the intercom.
The gremlin captain's voice came over the intercom, giving the opposite instructions of a typical captain upon nearing their destination. "Okay, folks. You are free to walk about the cabin as we've started our descent."
Outside the plane, a gremlin under one wing quickly smacked the engine with a hammer, forcing the plane to instantly nose-dive at a dangerous speed. Everyone held on tight to their seats, while the humans buckled their belts to keep them safe. Dennis and Martha flew back to their seats and gave Winnie and Willie a thumbs-up to let them know that Tinkles was okay. Dr. Gillman and Lydia were the only ones in their separate seats oblivious to everyone's dilemma, two sleep masks over their eyes and snoring calmly despite the screaming and falling. Ericka shielded Diavolo from harm, while Monica was silently praying for everyone to make it out alive.
In the pilot's room, the two gremlin pilots didn't drive the wheel, carelessly allowing it to fall, while they warmed up some tea and had a little chat like nothing was wrong.
"So, any big plans for the weekend, Bob?" the captain asked the pilot.
"Oh, you know, the usual. Gotta take the kids to soccer," the pilot replied.
The plane continued to fall, its nose-dive going faster and faster than ever. It lost more parts and it kept falling, until it crashed into the ocean with a huge splash. The gremlin pilot was behind the wheel and he managed to calmly steer the damaged plane up to the surface.
When the plane bubbled back to the surface, the gremlin flight attendant announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've arrived at our destination - the Bermuda Triangle."
The plane, which was now a skeleton, still holding its passengers, floated toward the edge of a giant triangle-shaped hole in the ocean filled with an enormous tower of wrecked ships.
"Ooooo!" Frank, Eunice, Hank, Alex ,Evan and Gina awed in amazement.
The plane floated to the triangle and plunged down the side of a waterfall. It splashed as it approached a sand bank where a ton of aircraft wreckage was stacked. All of the monsters gushed, "Oooh!" Especially the humans, despite their terrifying crash landing, were deeply impressed.
After everyone finally got off the skeleton plane, Andrei went around making sure everybody was present and counted for. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, and every human or monster nodded. Andrei's hair was frazzled up, and stunned that Lydia and Dr. Gillman had slept through the whole thing. When Lydia had awoken, she wasn't bothered by the damaged plane.
"What happened to the plane?" Dr. Gillman raised a puzzled eyebrow.
Then Andrei went over to his sister and three nieces and nephew to see if they were alright too. "Ericka , kids, are you alright?" he asked them worryingly.
"We're alright, Uncle Andrei. Why do you ask?" Mavis replied.
"Dad, we're fine. Everyone is," Ericka assured him, and Diavolo cooed in her arms as if assuring him.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Luna added cheerfully. "That was fun, let's do it again!"
"Absolutely not!" Andrei retorted. "We are not doing that again!" Then he towered over at Mavis, very cross at her. "As for you! How could you choose a flight piloted by dangerous gremlins?!" he yelled. "We could've gotten seriously hurt or worse!"
"Uncle, I didn't-" A hurt Mavis tried to talk to her step-uncle, but he didn't want to listen to her.
"Enough, I don't want to hear your excuses!" the older man scolded at the young vampire. "This is the LAST time you're choosing a flight, young lady!"
Overhearing the fight, Danny watched the scene unfold with interest. Perhaps not all of the humans present would trust their lives in the hands of these creatures. An irked Dracula wanted to step in and protect Mavis from her uncle, but Ericka decided to stop this before it got ugly.
"Brother, stop it!" Ericka scorned at her brother. "Yes, Mavis did choose the airline, but she probably didn't think this would happen." She gestured to the wrecked airplane. "So let's drop this and go inside."
Andrei kept glaring at his daughter, but knew he didn't want to argue with her, so he agreed. "Fine, but we're talking a different airline back home. Hopefully one with no gremlins on it!"
"Amen to that," Monica mumbled.
The monsters and the humans exited out of the plane, carrying their luggage, and making their way through the wreckage. They discovered that this old ship was connected to a newer ship, then a submarine, then up through another damaged airplane, and finally they approached the door of an aircraft carrier at the surface.
The door gradually opened and there stood Stan, the half fish half man, the crew leader. Everyone stared at this monotone fish man for a while. Nevertheless, he politely greeted the monsters and humans at the door.
"Welcome to the Bermuda Triangle," Stan greeted in his usual tone. "Where you'll embark on a pirate monster cruise of a lifetime!" He gestured to a giant cruise ship that stood before them.
It was in that moment that Dracula finally realized where they were going. "A pirate cruise?!" he gasped in shock.
"SURPRISE!" Mavis cheered.
"Honey, it's wonderful!" Ericka scooped up Mavis in a loving embrace. "Thank you!"
"Wow, thanks, Mavis!" Luna levitated upward to hug Mavis's face before she moved back down.
"You won't regret it," Mavis announced.
"No, no, no, no!" Dracula refused, sounding disappointed. "But it's just like a hotel... on the water!"
"So, what? It looks perfect!" Ericka grunted dryly, walking away from her glaring husband to go check on the luggage.
"I just figured you need a vacation from running everyone else's vacation," Mavis explained. "You've barely been out of the hotel since... well, since Mom died." Dracula's face softened sadly, knowing this was true. "But I know you left the hotel once to go on your honeymoon with my stepmother," Mavis gestured toward Ericka who seemed to glow in the northern lights above, making her appear angelic and more radiant than ever, and it put a glimmer of light in Dracula's heart.
"I know you have a lot of memories there..." Mavis took Dracula's hands and tenderly swept him toward their loved ones, "but this is a chance to make new memories. With all of us. With Dennis... Martha… Luna...Diavolo... Mom... our family."
Johnny and Dennis and Martha stood side by side, gazing at the large cruise ship before them. "BOOOOOOOOOOAT!" Father and son and daughter droned.
"This is gonna be the best vacation ever!" Ericka said, hoisting Luna in her arm while she held Diavolo in the other arm.
The lights of Aurora Borealis sent a glow of heavenly aura around the figures of Ericka and Luna and Diavolo, as mother and children giggled excitedly at their awaiting pirate cruise ship, but no one seemed to glow brighter than Ericka tonight. His fight long forgotten with her had been replaced with adoration for his wife, Dracula felt his heart swell with love and pride over his family. He immediately knew at once that Mavis was right.
"Who made you such an amazing daughter?" the vampire asked lovingly, wrapping an arm around Mavis's shoulders to bring her closer.
"You!" Mavis smiled.
"Hehe, that's right. What a father and a husband I am!" Dracula boasted, before he rushed over to plant two surprise kisses on the cheeks of Ericka and Luna and Diavolo, and then scooped up a giggling Dennis and Martha to hoist him on his shoulders, longing for the idea of spending time with his family. "Come on, Denisovich and Martha . Come on,Luna . Let's get cruising!"
When he was alone, Daniel hauled his luggage beside, grumbling, "I wish those creatures had drowned in the plane crash. Mr. Van Helsing as right, they were so blind to put their trust in a vampire for 'safety' flying. I guess he doesn't know them like he thought he did." When he looked up at the cruise ship, called the Legacy, Danny sighed thoughtfully, "Let's hope this mission ends better."