I dedicate this fanfiction to my girlfriend and all my readers, reviewers and the beta reader wallaceb.
CHAPTER 7 - Lie, confess or flee?
The dinner was going smoothly for the few remaining hotel guests, so much so that the three were eating in the great hall, almost silent, rather than in a private room. Jonathan was the quietest the two vampires had ever seen. The only odd thing (excluding everything strange that could be in a hotel for monsters to which the human was accustomed to) was the sticky and almost overly amorous attitude that Mavis had towards the boy.
Obviously Jonathan was not annoyed by Mavis' attention who caressed her head on his shoulder or stroked his hair, the only drawback was a grumpy Drac, who seemed quiet sitting in front of the couple, but the human sensed his aura of jealousy which, although well hidden, seemed ready to explode at any moment.
"M... Mavy? What are you doing tonight? You've almost eaten nothing..." Jonathan asked, a little embarrassed.
"Nothing, it's just that I desire to be with you! " She answered, softly.
The vampire slipped a glare at the boy, as if it were his fault.
"Drac? " Eunice rebuked him, she was sitting next to Mavis, "Stop glaring at people, I've told you a thousand times! And when are you going to let these two young soul mates live their lives? Look at them, they are so sweet..." The woman sighed, thinking of youthful love, but a moment later her raspy voice came back echoing in the room, "Hey, you!" She exclaimed, turning to her husband, sitting next to her, who was eating while quietly ignoring her, "I also want to have a daughter to see grow and fall in love with someone who loves her!"
"You know it would also be my dream, but as long as this world is dangerous it's better to wait. I don't want my son to go through what I went through..." Frank said, bitterly
"You want a child? Why didn't you talk to me about this before?" Wayne exclaimed, excitedly, "We're giving away puppies!" He continued taking three of his children who were running here and there and raised them holding them by the collar, "I have as many as you want!" He concluded.
"My love! " Wanda playfully scolded her husband, "How silly you are!" She concluded with a chuckle.
The wolf let go of the three puppies who came back to do damage, and then approached the Steins couple, whispering:
"I'm not kidding; if you take three of them I'm willing to pay you."
The two looked at him perplexed, but did not comment.
"Hey, Drac," Murray whispered to the vampire, "When the Council meets, how shall we answer if they ask us about that thing? Do you have a plan?"
In a blink Dracula disappeared in a purplish cloud, only to reappear next to the mummy.
"Sssshh! Are you crazy?" The count yelled in a low voice, pulling him face to face by his bandages, "Do you have sand instead of a brain? There could be spies watching us everywhere!"
"Sorry mate, you know that to mummify me they put my organs in canopic jars, but threw away my brain..."
The old vampire chuckled at the awkwardness of his friend, then turned to all those seated at his table:
"After dinner, I ask that you to come to my office, we need to talk." That being said the Count turned into a bat and flew away.
"Where is he going so fast? He hasn't even finished eating his rat eyes muffin! " Jonathan said, almost worried.
The others shrugged, while Murray used a bandage like a lasso to catch Drac's dessert and swallow it in one gulp.
The monsters and Jonathan ended up in a hurry to finish eating as they were a bit worried about what Drac had to tell them, but everyone could imagine what concerned the forthcoming Council.
Knock, knock...
The human timidly knocked on Dracula's office door with his friends right behind him.
"Come in." The serious voice of the Count replied.
The group entered the room, it was all messed up and there were letters scattered everywhere as if a typhoon had just passed by.
With a nod of his finger Dracula turned on the phonograph that started playing Mozart's Requiem, then with a nod he made the letters and other papers fly in a vortex slamming against all present, even revealing Griffin's position.
"Excuse the discomfort, but I had to be sure there were no invisible intruders or someone who could listen to us from a distance. What I'm about to say should not in any way reach the Order's ears. We all know what happened to my daughter a few weeks ago, but you must maintain absolute silence. Just the word "demon" generates the most total delirium, especially to the dragons. If they found out what happened to my child... they would have no qualms." The old father paused for a moment, just the thought troubled him to the point of paralysis, "And I cannot let anything bad happen to you." He concluded, placing a hand to his daughter's shoulder.
"That's it?" Jonathan exclaimed, "Just say nothing and invent some excuse, what's the problem?"
"Jonny," The Count interrupted him, "It's not as simple as you think, not everyone can lie under oath."
"It seems to me that you haven't had any problems lying to your daughter with the story of the village!" Eunice yelled with her usual high"pitched voice.
"I said under oath! And you want to put it in your poorly assembled head that I'm sorry for what I did? Always twisting the knife in the wound... However Mavis, Murray and me are magical creatures and it will not be difficult for them to extort the truth in a formal interview. That is why I am seriously concerned..."
"Oh, I see," The human sighed, "There's nothing you can do to nullify a promise?"
"Well, yes, unless the one to whom we made the oath dies, or crossing our fingers while we promise, but we'll keep our hands in plain view."
"Dad?" Mavis exclaimed, thoughtfully after a moment of general silence, "How's your arm?"
Drac looked at her, puzzled, "Well, much better, thank you, all that remains is half the forearm and the hand to regenerate, but now that I'm used to it I have a lot more mobility, although I won't ever get used to the smell of formaldehyde." The vampire said, moving his gloved hand, " But what does this have to do with our discussion?"
The girl smiled and Jonathan did the same, he had also realized her plan.
"A fake hand is what they will see during the oath, the real one will have its fingers crossed, to break it."
All monsters and Jonathan complimented Mavis for the brilliant idea, but Drac did not seem to agree.
"No, it's too risky, I don't want to risk the accusations against you to become worse."
"So what would you do? There is no alternative! Or learn to lie or tell the truth, hoping they understand that now I'm... healed!" Mavis cried, irritated by her father's indecision.
"Shhhh!" He said, putting his index finger to his nose, "I don't know if someone can hear us, the music and the paper swirl may not have been enough to hide your shouts."
"So tell me your plan, I also prefer a safer option." Mavis said with a calmer voice.
For a moment no one answered, but then Drac went forth:
"I've been thinking for a long time, I 'm sorry to say, but the only thing we can do is run away until the dust has settled..."
The girl said nothing, simply narrowed her eyes up to make two thin slits while her expression grew more and more charged with contempt and anger for what her father had suggested.
Strong wind stirred the young vampire's hair, but even that storm could not manage to ruffle or make it lose its smoothness, just like her character now forged did not bend to the will of her father any more, but a moment before she answered she was interrupted by Jonathan:
"NO! I love both of you, as if you were my family, and for that I cannot shut up. Drac, do you realize what you are saying? Hiding from the world of humans and that of monsters? And where would you go, on Mars with the aliens?"
"Jonny, calm down..." Mavis said in a soft voice, though a bit worried about the excessive and sudden agitation of the boy, "What happened? Why did you take it personally?"
"Because it IS a personal matter! " The boy continued, then took a deep breath and went on,"Escaping from problems doesn't solve them. Sooner or later we must come to terms with reality. I learned the hard way... Three years ago I escaped from my family because I couldn't bear the constant transfers resulting from my father's work and for more than a year I haven't given them my news. By a coincidence of fate they recognized my voice while I fought with an agent who didn't want to let me sleep on a bench in the Stratford train station, the options were to spend the night in jail or with my parents, and I chose the latter. But the story repeated exactly as before, and so I went away again, but this time occasionally calling them to calm them. Since then I've been a tourist forever, even though in reality I look like a tramp.
Drac, you should know what I mean, how long have you lived in the shadows without a home and without a reference point. Now it's not only you who needs stability, you have given the opportunity to have a safe shelter for all monsters, without you the Hotel Transylvania will die. And then the life of a fugitive is crap, only filled with regrets. You don't deserve it, no one deserves a life like mine, but at least I'm human, and my life is limited, but for how long are you willing to live like this?"
"Jonathan is right. Dad, I love to travel, I want to discover the world to the point of feeling homesick and then return back here. I don't want to live fleeing aimlessly."
"Mavis' plan will not be the most infallible in the world, but it makes more sense than your idea of escape," Griffin commented, "Even I'd find it hard to escape from the dragons..."
"Dad, please, let's try. You know very well an escape would be impossible, and when they find us, we won't have any excuses."
"I understand if this is the way you have decided, I'm with you, the important thing is to stick together, right?"
"Yeah!" All monsters and Jonathan said in unison, filled with hope.
But no one seemed to have noticed the two small, but bright eyes that were watching them; a small dark"haired bat was staring at them from the window. Realizing the sun was rising he dropped himself down, gliding down to the ground where he became human.
"Ruthven, have you found something interesting?" Erzsebet asked, approaching him.
"Can you read lips?" He said with a smirk.