Winnie and Dennis who'd taken his bat form were so busy racing each other and having fun neither was paying attention to where they were going. He kept doing circles around her and playfully pulling at the tuft of fur on her head "You are so gonna pay for that!" She called. "Oh, I'm shaking in my wings" He teased.
It happened then, Winnie who was running on all fours was going so fast she ended up bumping into Hobart Gallywix. One of the meanest goblins ever to check into the hotel, He was never happy and continuously complained about something, He even threatened to tarnish the hotels reputation and have it shut down within the week. everyone eventually stopped believing him because as much as he whined and moaned he never followed thru with his threats. He was all talk and just wanted to scare everyone.
Winnie fell onto her back and Hobart whirled around drool dripping from his bared teeth. "You stupid brat I outta skin your hide..." He went stomping towards her though Dennis quickly took his human form and came to her defense. "Hey chill out hothead it was just an accident, so why don't you go get some punch and calm yourself down before you do anything stupid."
Hobart looked as if he wanted to say something but knew better then to pick a fight with Dracula's grandson so he turned around and walked away muttering "Stupid half-breed..." Dennis turned to help Winnie back to her feet "Are you ok..." she refused to take his hand and smacked it away "yes I'm fine but you didn't have to do that" She told him "I could have handled old lizard lips myself."
"I know that." He told her matter-a-factly "thats WHY I did it. your 'handling' him would have gotten you in a ton of trouble with my papa drac AND your parents, don't you see? I did it because I cared" Winnie would have argued further but then the lights went dim and the music began to play. "Dennis c'mon" One of his friends called "Get onto the floor and dance with me" She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him forward but his attention was still on Winnie "Nah I'm cool" He told the girl "Winnie and I were talking maybe some other time..." "No" Winnie interupted "Really its ok. It's your party after all so go and have some fun. I'll stay here and keep an eye on the food, you know to make sure my brothers don't clean you guys out" She added a small laugh for effect but she was clearly having trouble keeping back how she really felt.
Dennis looked crestfallen "Winnie I..." The human girl known to everyone as Amanda smiled in triumph "C'mon lets go" She cried excitedly as she dragged him to the middle of the dance floor. Winnie wishing she could just out right tell him how she really felt was soon joined again by Brett. This time she didn't try to run away as he held out a paw. He was acting as if he'd forgotten all about her completely disappearing on him "I would be most honored if you shared this dance with me" He said politely.
Winnie hesitated for a moment, she could see her parents watching her from her side vision and suddenly felt backed into a corner. they were motioning for her to dance with him. Her mother was mouthing the word 'go' much to her annoyance. "Well?" Brett was flashing her a smile revealing his set of pearly white canines. she secretly wanted to punch him and just run screaming out of the room but she was way to prideful to do that and knew it would only embarrass her parents so swallowing back the vile in her throat she smiled "I- I'd love to..." and took his paw.
She could see the tears of joy on her mothers face as she hugged her dad Wayne. Much to her chagrin and embarrassment she was led onto the dance floor right next to Dennis and his high school friend Amanda. It was slow dancing music so Brett pulled her up to his chest and immediately took the lead, the two body's swaying from side to side in a slow sort of motion. Everyone, including Dennis were watching them. Winnie made eye contact with him for a second. It hurt her that he looked so sad, she could tell he was trying his best to hide the fact that he was disappointed.
It all came back to her then. she'd broken her promise to him. The day before his party she'd promised him that she'd dance with him first before anyone else, she immediately felt angry with herself at not taking his hints before that he'd wanted to dance with her and not Amanda. Their eye contact was quickly broken when Brett twirled her around. the two continued their dance for a good solid minute. Finally to Winnie's relief it was over and she pulled her hand back from his grip, Brett was quickly asked to dance by another one of the female monsters to which he gladly accepted. Winnie made no remarks as she was glad at any chance to be away from him. As soon as they'd disappeared she looked around having lost sight of Dennis but couldn't find him anywhere.
She found his mother however who was busy dealing with a crisis of her own. "I don't know about Johnny" She was telling Winnie's mother Wanda. "He seems to be getting worse every day. I- I don't know what to do he's never been this sick before and if I lost him I'd just..." She bravely fought back her tears though Wanda was telling her that 'everything was gonna be fine' and that 'he'd get better' "Just have faith hun, he'll pull thru. You'll see." Winnie backed away and ran out of the room trying to keep herself together. Poor Dennis must be so heartbroken. She'd known Johnny was sick but never in her life did she think he was THAT sick to the point they were afraid he'd die. Winnie began to wonder why Dennis had failed to mention this. She got on all fours and began sniffing the ground trying to locate his scent, she tracked his scent all the way outside. It was going towards the cemetery.
She began calling out to him but never received An answer. Luckily she was an expert tracker and eventually found him. He was in the middle of the cemetery with the girl Amanda. "Dennis I think we should go back..." She said feeling uneasy. "Why?" He asked completely oblivious to the fact that not all humans enjoyed walking thru the cemetery as much as he did. "Because it's creepy thats why..." She grabbed his arm and screamed "What was that!?" Dennis listened close but heard nothing "its just the wind..." he began, she suddenly let out another scream as an arm shot out from the ground and took hold of her leg. Her cries of bloody murder were a pain to Winnie's ears though she continued to watch with amusement as Dennis tried to calm her down. When that didn't work he tried pulling her leg out from the arms grip.
Finally after a grueling minute it let Amanda go. She ended reeling back and stepping into a pile of dog shit. "Oh no my shoes are ruined!" She complained, when Dennis tried to make it better by apologizing she slapped him and walked or rather limped away leaving him in the middle of the cemetery alone. He scoffed 'girls' and let himself fall freely onto the dirt. "don't look at me like that" He said talking to the gravestone "Its your fault she left." Winnie found herself giggling as he kept talking to it. He stopped and grew quiet when he looked up and saw her. "Can I join you?" She asked.
He managed a nod, her fur brushing up against his skin as she plopped herself down next to him. "I'm sorry" She murmured after a minute. "For what?" Dennis asked. "well for breaking my promise for one." He made a silent 'oh' with his lips and started playing with the dirt under his feet. "I'm also sorry about your dad, I overheard your mom talking about how sick he is..." "when he didn't say anything, she continued "So what does your grandpa drac have to say about all this?"
"I wouldn't know." He finally said after a minute "I haven't spoken to him in days." Winnie eyed him in confusion "Why? Did you guys get into a fight?"
"Yeah a really big fight,"
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Though she didn't wanna press him on it she was curious. "He still thinks I'm just a kid..." He began "that I'm too young to understand these kinds of things but I understand it better then he thinks. My dads dying I know that much." "But it's not your grandpas fault..." Winnie began "He didn't make your dad sick..." the tone in his voice grew louder "Don't you think I know that!?" He got to his feet but Winnie stayed on the floor "Of course he didn't but he can help and he refuses thats why I'm so angry!" he hit a nearby tree so hard his knuckles began to bleed.
in his anger he clenched both his fists and leaned up against it, his back turned to her as he spoke. "I asked grandpa drac if he could turn my father into a vampire, that way he wouldn't have to suffer anymore" He watched Winnie gasp in shock, her entire body was shaking from head to tail. "He told me no. Wouldn't give me an explanation as to why he just said no and that was it he dropped the subject and I haven't spoken to him since."
"What does your mother say about all this?"
"She doesn't know I've asked him yet and I don't plan on telling her it would only add to the stress she's in now..."
"Oh Dennis I'm so sorry..." "Ah forget it. I need to be alone for a while so tell my mom I'll be back later on and not to worry" He quickened his slow paced walk into a sort of run, Winnie following close behind. ""Dennis wait!"
to be continued.