I dedicate this fanfiction to my girlfriend and all my readers, reviewers and beta reader wallaceb.
Hi everyone, I know it has been two weeks since my last update, but unfortunately I've been busy this week because now I'm in London for 2 weeks, I'll back in Italy by February 5th, luckily I have internet, so I hope to be able to publish the next chapter (the last one) on February 4th.
CHAPTER 42 – I'll never leave you
The human slowly came out from his hiding place with his hands raised, but the dragoon and the wyvern were looking elsewhere.
"Stop!" The dark knight ordered before starting to chase something in the woods, it seemed to be an animal, perhaps a wolf or a wild boar.
"Better it than me!" The young man commented with a shrug, and then he started walking again in the opposite direction to where the rider was headed.
Soon Jonathan joined the research team that was defeated by Mavis a few hours before. Fortunately, all of them had recovered and they were looking around for missing pieces of the armors.
Just as they saw the redheaded boy, they froze as if they were paralyzed by Dracula's powers.
They kept staring at Jonathan waiting for him to speak.
"Mavis is fine now... I mean... she's still a demon, but now she has full control of herself."
"Finally some good news!" A metallic voice exclaimed. It was a helmet attached to a shoe that bounced noisily towards the human.
"We've seen her..." Frank began to speak, but was interrupted by the human:
"She's here!?" He said, looking around frantically.
"No, we didn't know that she had recovered, so when she flew above us we hid. But Drac is not with you?" Asked Wayne.
"No, he's... he's just been left behind, he is a bit tired..."
"Let's hope he recovers soon," Frank said, "Also Murray is not very well..." He concluded by indicating a tree that seemed to be wrapped in toilet paper. They were the mummy's bandages that some gargoyles were trying to loosen with poor results, only the two big bright green eyes between the leaves made him recognizable.
"Everything okay up there?" Jonathan shouted to be heard, but he got only a tired groan in response.
"Did you see where Mavis has gone?" The human asked, turning at the other monsters.
"No, but I think towards the castle." Wayne answered.
"Not quite," Griffin spoke," The direction was that way, but she landed before.
"And how do you know?" Wayne asked him.
"It's simple; unlike you I'm used to hiding."
"If she did not go to the castle..." Jonathan thought for a moment, until he was illuminated by intuition, "Sure! Thanks Griffin!" He concluded turning to the invisible man, but he was somewhere else.
That being said the boy began to run towards the castle.
Fortunately the dragons kept circling above the area of the fight against Camazotz, as long as they stayed there the boy would have fewer problems.
Jonathan arrived at the cemetery. He remembered that place; he had already been there twice, as he followed the flaming zombies, and when Drac had brought him there to kick him away after the pool games.
It was worse than he remembered, there were gravestones uprooted and crumbled everywhere, signs of a struggle, but then his attention was drawn by something shiny attached to a cypress tree. It was a silver arrow that was dirty-black from top to bottom, the tree was stained as if the wound of the arrow made it bleed, but this was the first time he saw it during the day.
The human approached the arrow and touched it with two fingers, the black powder come off easily.
"Ash?" He whispered to himself.
Looking closely Jonathan noticed that the tree was not dirty, but the black stain was charred bark.
"It must have been an uphill battle to Drac, I'm happy that he won... I am sorry he had to again see the worst side of us humans."
But the thoughts of the young man were interrupted by the echo of sad crying far away.
"Mavis..." Jonathan muttered and immediately resumed the search for the girl.
The crying became closer and closer, until the human saw through the trees the shiny reflection of the lake's water as he had arrived at a beach.
Mavis was in the water, lying on her side and curled up on herself, covered by her wings.
Despite being faced with a terrifying demon, Jonathan found her very sweet.
The boy walked cautiously to the black creature, her eyes were closed and her face was sad and sullen.
Seeing her so depressed the boy tried to comfort her, stroking her forehead, lovingly.
"You again?" Sighed the demon who once opened her eyes. She blinked and corrected herself, "Jonny?!" She exclaimed, moving her face away from him, worried, "I'm glad you're okay, but you're not a vampire?"
"Well, no, your father has used a strange spell to stop my transformation and made me human again. I also had fangs, but I broke them ... one I don't know how, and the other one was broken when I threw myself out of the bed thinking I could turn into a bat!
Mavis giggled, she had missed the self-destructive madness of her boyfriend.
"But how did you find me?"
"You would not have gone to the castle because you would not have found your father and also for fear of hurting someone, the only place that came to my mind is this, in spite of what happened both before and after... When we were just you and me it was the most beautiful evening of my life."
"Yeah... and... I'm sorry for what happened..."
"Mavis, you don't need to apologize, it was not your fault, and your father also cleared the jerk who tried to kill us!" The human said kicking and punching the air in a Bruce Lee style.
"Well, but... I meant what I did... and my father too... Can you ever forgive us?"
Jonathan was puzzled, so Mavis is explained further:
"We attacked you, don't you remember?"
"Ohw, that... nah! Nothing happened! You have done nothing of which you need to apologize... Especially you, Mavy!" He concluded, winking.
"Out of curiosity, why did you come in Transylvania?"
"Oh, well, I won a Smartphone travel photo competition and I won the tickets to do the whole tour of Europe. The organizers of the competition told me that I should never miss Transylvania for all gold of the world, they were right!" He exclaimed, laughing.
"What luck ... " Mavis said coldly, looking away. What Lilith had said was true, but even then their zing was planned, calculated ... induced? Their feelings were real or were these fiction also?
"Now go away, you shouldn't stay close to me."
"There is no other place in the world where I would be now." Jonathan answered, softly.
"B-but..."
"Nothing, "but"... rather you should not be here, those dragons are patrolling the area looking for you! If they find you they'll kill you!"
"Maybe this is the right thing; I know how dangerous a demon is, a lot of books in the library talk about them."
"Are you crazy?"
"I know what I did!" She cried out in tears.
"It's not true, you know just what that grumpy guy told you. Don't listen to him."
"You're wrong, I know everything, I remember everything, both what I saw in my mind, and what Camazotz saw... I also remember its emotions... I still feel... that anger, the bloodlust, the desire for pure violence... sigh..."
Mavis burst into tears, so Jonathan shook the girl's head on his chest, even if that head was larger than the human himself. But Mavis did not care, she felt protected and loved and soon she calmed down.
"How can a creature to be so evil?"
"I don't know and don't care; the only thing I want is to be with you."
"But do you realize what you are saying? Jonathan, LOOK AT ME!" Mavis said, increasing her voice and standing up on all fours, and then she stood watching her reflection on the water, "Do you understand that I'm a demon now? We're too different!"
The boy found himself in the rain that fell down from the demon's wet fur.
"Different?" The boy asked crossing his arms, almost angry.
Mavis calmed down and lay down again, so the boy pulled back his wet hair and continued:
"And when where our differences a problem? You were a monster and I'm a human, we were not so much "equal", right?"
The demon opened her mouth, but was interrupted by the human:
"And even if we were both human, or both monsters we were not equal anyway! I'm a humanoid typhoon and you are an adorable daddy's girl, we are the opposite of the other, the only thing we have in common is a desire to travel... and this is also due from two opposite reasons..."
"I want to travel around the world because I have always been locked up in my home, while you go around the world in search of a place to call home..." The girl said.
These words shocked the young man who was paralyzed for a moment, so much that Mavis was almost worried.
"You... How do you know? I've never told anyone, not even to my family..."
"Your mother knows you well, you can hide your problems, but she will always find them."
"Have you talked to her?"
"Yes, while you were sleeping."
"Now I understand why she has always paid my travel and why she let me go away alone without preventing me from doing anything ... She has always known how make me suffer the situation that I have in my family."
"Jonathan, go now, if the dragons find me, you could be injured in the clash, too."
The boy sighed.
"You have a big head; is it possible that my message don't enter there?"
"And you don't want to understand that I AM A DEMON? A DEMON! A terrifying and dangerous demon!"
"Demon, demon, demon... what does it mean?" Jonny said with a shrug, "In front of me I see and I'll always see my pretty little Mavy Wavey, my zing, my love." He concluded, spontaneously, putting a hand on his heart.
"B-but we met just a few days ago!" The demon's voice was shaking by emotion.
"Both of us were ready to sacrifice our lives for the salvation of other, and we took this risk several times without even thinking about it, I would be ready to die for you even now because I love you! I hope at least that you understand it!"
Mavis raised her arms from the water and embraced the human, who at first was frightened, but despite the size of the demon she had full control of her strength and the embrace was as comfortable as a tender caress that the boy returned.
Mavis was crying, but this time they were tears of joy, she wanted to shout how much she loved him, but all those emotions prevented her from doing so.
-Llith, you failed, you made me know the love for turn me into a demon, but you haven't considered that the love would defeat even you...- The young demon thought, proud.
-Don't worry,- Jonny said, -Although you will remain in this form forever we just roll with it, as always I've done, no problem is serious if you deal with the person you love.- Concluded the guy doing his girlfriend smile even more.
"Mavy, Jonny..." A little distant voice interrupted the two, it was Drac and with him were the other monsters friends. They were all still at the end of the woods watching them, they were smiling and had tears in their eyes from being so moved by what they heard.
The demon left the boy and walked away from the shore, afraid.
"Kids, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but Mavis is in danger, the dragons don't have to find you. You have to hide at the castle."
"Dad," The girl said, giving a quick look at her uncles, she feared to see them scared of her, but it was not so, "Guys... I... Did I hurt you? Are you not afraid of me?"
"No, why should we? We're all fine!" Frank replied sincerely.
"Yeah, especially after what Jonny said!" Wayne added, while the others glared at him.
"How long have you been eavesdropping on us?" Jonathan asked.
Dracula sighed, now they had been discovered.
"From enough time to realize how much you love my daughter, young man. And to realize that your love goes far beyond race and physical appearance. Despite your young age you have shown higher maturity and wisdom than I could have hoped for."
"Oh, well, thank you, but I haven't done anything so special..." the young man replied, scratching his head, embarrassed.
"Dad..." Mavis said, lying down on the ground, terrified.
"Mavis, what happened to you?" Everyone shouted in unison.
Dracula immediately ran towards his daughter, regardless of the sunlight that was burning him, fortunately Frank noticed it and gave him shade with his body.
"I hear them, they're coming!" The demon whispered, staring at the sky.
"Who, the dragons?" The vampire asked her.
She nodded.
"I was hoping that my men could hold them longer. Now it's too late to hide yourself..." Drac muttered to himself, putting a hand on his forehead thinking, "Fighting would be a disaster and escape is now impossible..."
"Drac, we can try talking to them, if we explain the situation they will understand." The human proposed.
"I wish it were that simple... the Order of the Dragon is an alliance of monsters born to maintain order and balance, and a demon cannot be left free... If it were not my daughter I'd be the first to propose the killing of it."
"And then what can we do?"
"There is only one way. Mavis, you have to turn into a vampire!"
"But dad, how can I?"
"I don't know, just do it! Now the demon is dead, you should no longer be in this shape, so focus and... like when you learned to turn into a bat!"
Mavis closed her eyes, around her there was absolute silence.
"Dad, I cannot!"
"Mavis, you're strong, I know you can do it!" The boy encouraged her, approaching her and placing a hand on her cheek, after him Dracula did the same, and Frank followed him to keep him in the shade, and then it was the turn of Murray, Griffin and Wayne.
"Guys..." The girl sighed, smiling, feeling a thrill of pleasure expanding from her heart into her whole body.
The body of the demon began to burn in a black fire and then exploded in a flame that submerged everyone in darkness.
The shadows vanished, taking the demon with them, and now she was just a small creature with soft black fur in Jonathan's hands, her big blue eyes looked at the human with love.
None of those present had been wounded by this shadow fire.
"My little-wings, you made it!" Drac congratulated her, "But why are not you in human form?"
"Oh... well... how to say this..." The bat beat around the bush looking around, "Let's say that... I'm missing something..."
"Did you miss something?" The father echoed her, staring at her as he approached her who wrapped herself in her wings embarrassed. "What are you missing?" He asked in a tone that seemed more a supplication than a question.
"You know... some clothes..." She vampiress concluded, mumbling, while her fur hid the redness of her little face.
Dracula blinked, then with lightning speed took Mavis and hid her under his cloak.
"Get your eyes off my daughter!" The vampire yelled, adding some threatening roar, but now they are no longer scared, even Jonathan.
"Dad?" Mavis interrupted him returning to human form hugging him from under his cloak which embraced her, "Don't you think you're exaggerating? After all... we are in family!" She ended, smiling, turning to her uncles and Jonathan who did not hide an honored and proud expression.
But the frowning face of the count was not broken, he was still too jealous of his beloved daughter to admit that he would have to share her love with others who were not her uncles.
Dracula was about to say more, but he stopped when around them many dragons began to land surrounding them.
"Mavis, hide yourself." He ordered to his daughter in a low voice, who turned into a bat disappearing under her father's cloak.
"Jonny, stay close to me."
The human did not need to be told twice and went next to him.
"T-They are really so dangerous?" The boy asked, worried.
"I do not know. I do not know what I can expect from them..."