Night fell upon the Amazonian jungle, carpeting everything in a blanket of darkness.
Mavis and Ericka had covered good ground for the day, and had set up a small camp at the base of a few massive boulders to rest for a few hours before continuing for the remainder of the trek. Presently, a fire was burning between them. It provided a steady heat and an ample amount of light to see by, casting long shadows created by their bodies over the rugged forest floor. Mavis sat with her legs tucked neatly underneath her, munching contentedly on some trout that was caught in the nearby stream earlier in the day.
"Not bad," Mavis commented between mouthfuls of the tender fish. "It tastes great!"
Ericka shrugged. "I may have dabbled in a bit of cooking while aboard The Legacy. One has to occupy the mind with something if you're going to be living aboard a ship for pretty much your whole life."
Mavis considered her words, then nodded thoughtfully. "I can see what you mean. I got a little bored after I had explored everywhere inside of the hotel when I was younger. I even tried to sneak out a couple of times just so I could see what lay beyond the haunted forest and Land of Undead. Didn't quite work out, though. My dad would always catch me right before I even went out the front door." She chuckled as she remembered how after he caught her and brought her back to her room, he'd smother her in hugs and kisses until he himself felt calmness and reassurance.
Ericka raised a hand. "I'm guilty, too," she admitted. "Once - I think I was maybe about sixteen or seventeen - I took a lifeboat and jumped off of the ship when it was my great-grandfather's nap time. I got a few good miles out from the boat before he was even aware that I was missing. He came looking for me with searchlights and everything, and tugged me out of the water back onto the ship. We got into a really big argument that night. He kept trying to tell me that we had to be the ones to 'find and destroy Dracula,' not just me by myself."
She shook her head, and suddenly became aware of what she had just said. She turned to Mavis. "Oh uh… sorry, I - "
"I get it," Mavis snapped, putting a hand up. "You don't have to explain."
Things remained in a thick silence for a moment before Ericka spoke up again. "I understand why your dad built the hotel. It was to keep people like us out. The persecutors. The hunters. The ones who don't even give monsters a chance…"
Mavis sighed heavily. "He built the hotel for my mom. He wanted to make sure that by keeping me safe, he was keeping a part of her safe. Since, well, you know…"
Mavis trailed off, averting her gaze. She could feel the beginning of tears prick at her eyes. "She um... I never actually knew her. But uh… she still means a lot to me."
There was another pause and then Ericka spoke. "I'm so sorry, Mavis. I never knew my mother either, or my father. And my great-grandfather was never really the best guardian, looking back at it now. He never once told me about them, and only cared that I knew about how to be a monster hunter just like him."
She scooted closer to Mavis and put an arm around her shoulder. "I can't even begin to imagine what your dad went through when it happened to your mother. But, I'm going to tell you something he told me when we had our first date on the cruise ship."
Mavis looked up at her curiously.
"You have to honor the past, it's true. But, we also get to make our own future. And right now, we can make something new together. And if there's anyone who deserves to have love again, I think we can both agree that it's your dad for sure."
Mavis smiled weakly at her, feeling a pang of guilt build inside of her chest. The truth was, that Ericka had only been looking out of her during this whole adventure thus far. And adventure that, had it not been by a lie she told, they never would have been on in the first place. Perhaps it really was best to forgive the actions of the past and forget them to make a better tomorrow. But, Mavis knew she would have to take the first step. And what better way to do it than here, alone in the jungle with her where there would be no distractions.
Mavis rubbed a hand up and down her arm, trying to soothe her nerves before she spoke.
"Um… Ericka? Look, there's um… there's something I need to tell you."
Ericka gazed at her. "What is it, Mavis?" she said, softly.
"Well, uh… see, the truth is that… that…" She fumbled for words. How could she tell her what she'd done? How would Ericka take it? How would her father take it once he came around to finding out? "See, the thing is that, the whole law with the Vampire Council and not being able to come into ownership of the hotel, it's actually not - "
But the loud roar of an engine suddenly cut her off. Blasting out of the foliage with brilliant lights and a deafening screech of tires came a large jeep that careened around the bend in front of them before slowing as the car skidded to an abrupt stop dangerously close to where they sat. Dust from the ground was kicked up into the air, and Mavis shielded her eyes against it, squinting to see who occupied the vehicle.
Then from the shadows Mavis was surprised to see Dracula come bounding forward, easily spotting his wife. "Ericka!" he exclaimed, enveloping the woman in a hug.
"Drac!" she responded happily, gripping him tightly as he smooched her repeatedly. "I'm so glad you're okay!" he said between kisses.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she giggled.
As the pair reunited, Johnny leaped out of the jeep and happily approached Mavis. "Hey, hon!" he called out. "What's up?"
"What's up? I should be asking you that!" Mavis exclaimed. "What's going on? What are you doing here?"
"She's not the only one, Mavis," a new voice rang out behind her husband's. Mavis looked over and saw four human females coming up to them. They looked vaguely familiar, and then it came to her.
"Aunt Eunice? Aunt Wanda? Crystal? Mandy?" she gaped.
"And us, too, Momma!" Dennis said, running up to her with Winnie by his side.
Mavis's jaw dropped. "You're, you're - "
"Human?" Mandy finished. "Yeah, we noticed."
"Yeah, but actually it's not so bad. A big improvement in my case!" Eunice said, fluffing her hair and taking yet another selfie. The other girls rolled their eyes. Mavis was confused.
"Wait, but, I don't actually understand. How did this happen to you guys?"
"Yes, that is what I would like to know, too," Drac replied. He turned to his wife. "Ericka, sweetheart, why did you go off and turn yourself into a monster?"
She sighed. "Well, it was because of the vampire Council's law. That no human can come into ownership of a monster-owned property. I don't think I'm going to put your life at risk because of it. All those consequences Mavis told me about…" She shuddered to even think about it.
Drac furrowed his brow. "The Council? What does the vampire Council have to do with any of this, Mavis?" He turned to his daughter. "I'm not understanding."
"Yeah, neither am I," Johnny said just as confused. "Who are they?"
The jungle grew silent as all eyes bore in on Mavis. She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Uh, well, the Vampire Council is a real group of vampires who oversee any matters related to us."
"It's true," Dracula pitched in. "I was called away on leave with them for a good two years."
Mavis nodded, remembering how she had to watch the hotel during that duration of time with her Aunt Lydia by her side. "Yes, that's right."
Dracula crossed his arms. "But that still doesn't explain the law that Ericka just described, that I can tell you does not exist."
Ericka paled next to him. "W-what?"
"I know the vampire law like the back of my hand. Every loophole and subsection I have memorized. And there is no such rule."
Dracula gave his daughter a pointed look. "Care to elaborate a little more?"
Mavis shifted uncomfortably under his intense stare. The other monsters and humans were starting to come into understanding of the situation. Eunice scoffed.
"Sounds like someone was trying to do an intervention," she muttered.
Ericka's mind reeled as it began to click in her head too. "You… you just didn't want me at the hotel at all…"
"So you lied to her, Mavis?" Dracula challenged. "That's how you thought this was all going to work out?"
Mavis felt anger boiling inside of her. "What was I supposed to do?" she yelled out at her father. "It's not like YOUhaven't lied before! You've done it plenty of times! And what did you say it was it all for? To try and protect me!"
She kicked a flaming log from the fire, the embers flying to the side boulder and flickering out. She gestured out. "Well, dad, here was my attempt at protecting you… from her!" Mavis pointed angrily at Ericka.
"What are you talking about?" Drac demanded.
"Maybe if you weren't so blinded by love, you'd see that this is all just part of one big elaborate plan! Just like the cruise!" Mavis spat. "We were all fooled once before, and it nearly cost us all our lives… but I refuse to let it happen again!"
Dracula could only stare at his daughter as she continued.
"I heard you both at the wedding reception. She was telling you that you'd finally be able to 'rest in peace'! What do you think that is supposed to mean?"
Distressed, Ericka turned her back to Mavis and buried her face in her hands. Dracula pinched the bridge of his nose as he realized which conversation his daughter was talking about.
"Mavis," he said slowly, "I didn't want to tell you this like this, but I have no choice but to right now." He looked at her. "We were talking about possibly retiring and leaving the hotel to you and Johnny!"
Mavis froze upon hearing this.
"W-what?"
"We were going to retire, and leave the hotel to you and Johnny at some point so that way I won't be so stressed all the time, and I can finally 'rest in peace' and all my 'worries will go away' once I am 'out of here.'"
The vampiress-turned-human was speechless.
Dracula opened his mouth to say more, but the sound of his wife starting to sob next to him drew his attention away from his daughter. He rubbed his hand on her back soothingly. "Ericka? Please don't cry, sweetheart, I know what happened and I'm sorry that it did."
"It's just… " she hiccuped between sobs. "It's just that here I was, thinking that I was fitting in, making friends at the hotel and really getting to know everyone without having to worry…" She blew her nose in a tissue. "And to think that it was all for NOTHING!"
A rage suddenly overtook Ericka. Her eyes blazed red in ferocity as a transformation began to change her. Her teeth grew longer and even sharper. Her claws extended into talons, her body morphing into something much larger, taller, scarier than before. She addressed Mavis with fury lacing every word.
"You will never accept me as part of your family! NEVER! So I may as well stop trying!"
With that Ericka stormed out into the darkness of the jungle, roaring angrily and decimating everything in her path.
"Ericka, wait!" Dracula called out desperately. He turned around to face Mavis.
"Mavis, this it your fault! Ericka only wanted to move on from her past and be accepted into our family. And now, because of this, I could lose her forever!"
Mavis began to get tearful again. "Dad," she began shakily, "I'm so sor - "
"Mavis, you said that you didn't want to see me get heartbroken again," he interrupted. "But now what you did is only about to make that possible. Heck, you know I wasn't the biggest fan of Johnny and his crazy behavior at first, but we grew to get along just fine!" He paused for a second, throwing a glance over at the redhead. "No offense, by the way."
"Ah, none taken, Drac," Johnny said understandably.
Drac then looked back at his daughter. "Why can't you learn to get along with and accept Ericka?" With a disappointed shake of his head, he shapeshifted into a bat and pursued his wife in the direction she had gone.
Nobody had anything to say for a moment. Mavis let the tears fall freely from her eyes, feeling helpless. She had only succeeded in possibly messing up her and her father's relationship, all because of her own selfishness. Johnny hugged his wife to calm her down.
"There, there, It's alright, Mavis. What you did really wasn't cool, but just give Drac a minute to chill. Right now, we've gotta get on our way to find the crystal!"
Mavis nodded, wiping the last of the water from her eyes. "You're right," she croaked, then more firmly added, "to the jeep!"
