I dedicate this fanfiction to my girlfriend and all my readers, reviewers and my new beta reader floodmaster16.
CHAPTER 11 - Time to say goodbye
-I... I can't believe it...- The old vampire said, as excited as never before.
The ethereal ghost smiled, and although it seemed to be composed of blue flames, Mavis ran towards it and hugged it tightly, and just she touched it, it materialized completely into a real person.
The vampiress did not say anything. No one said anything.
"You are all silent very silent" Martha murmured, stroking her daughter's head, then looked up at the old vampire still in disbelief, "I was afraid you would never come back ... but that's okay, you did well not to take unnecessary risks."
Dracula came to the ghost, "I..." He began to speak, but he was interrupted by Martha who put her index finger on his mouth.
"I know you want to apologize, but there is nothing you need to be forgiven for" She said in a gentle voice, then shifted her gaze on his arm, "What happened? I can't see any soul flow into your arm."
The vampire gasped, then touched his transplanted arm. There was just half of the hand and forearm regenerated, but he now had full control of his zombie-prothesis, so he did not mind anymore, "Don't worry about that, we faced a problem, but now it's all sorted out and we are all fine."
"Are you really sure?" Asked Martha and the Count replied with a smile full of security.
"Hey, boy," the woman said, turning to Johnathan who jumped, "I have already seen you in this place. You had a fight with security officers because they didn't allow you to bring your big backpack here. For the first time since I died someone made my day."
"And you were the loving presence that I felt the first time I walked in here." Replied the boy.
Martha made an affirmative smile, then spoke to her husband, looking him straight in the eye, as if daring to defy him:
"Tell me, Drac, why is there a human with monsters? Would this mean that I was right?"
The old vampire pouted, "Well, let's say that your argument, so far purely theoretical, now also has some feedback..."
"Basically, you mean to say that I was right, don't you? Serves you right, big-nose! You laughed when I fantasized about friendship between monsters and humans, and now our daughter fell in love with one of them. Don't you find it funny?" Then she looked down at his daughter, "So, little Mavis, you're a young woman now. Forgive me if I haven't been close to you throughout the years, but I'm sure your father has raised you well, even without me." Mavis did not reply and continued to hold her strong. Martha smiled and continued, "Do you want to introduce me to your boyfriend?"
The young vampiress looked up, her eyes red by the tears of joy, then she let go of her mother and turned to the human, "Well... He, he is Johnathan. Johnny, she's my mother, Martha."
The boy walked slowly and shook the woman's was freezing cold, enough to even frost his breath. Martha abruptly withdrew her hand, seemed almost frightened, and Drac became upset too, leaving the human puzzled.
"Mom, I still cannot believe it," Mavis exclaimed, "We have a million things to talk about when we return to the Hotel!"
"That... will not happen." Dracula said without mincing words, and Martha seemed to agree with him.
"Your father's right, my little Mavis," She began to explain, "Over time I was in this place, and my soul is being consumed. I haven't got much time now..."
"There is nothing we can do?" Jonathan asked, hoping that there might be a better solution.
"You saw it by yourself, my soul is getting weaker and that coldness that you felt is my spirit absorbing your soul. If I keep going this way, soon I'll become a killer polstergeist. I'm no longer part of this world now, it's not right to remain here at the expense of others. "
"That's okay," Mavis said with tears in his eyes, but also a little happy, "It was nice to say goodbye to you. I have seen the ghosts at the haunted forest, and I know what's it like when a ghost refuses to accept death for too much time, I don't want you become a lost soul like them... "
Martha put her hands on the shoulders of Mavis, "You're more mature than I expected, I'm proud of you"
Even Drac was dazed by the answer of his daughter, she was cold and disinterested. Sure, you could see that she was sad. He was already prepared to comfort her and to make her understand the reason for that difficult decision, but there was no need. Since Mavis had fled from the castle, almost a month before, a part of her had never come back, but, after all, growing old does not mean mature. Its life's difficulties and responsibilities what makes a girl mature and in her case it all happened too quickly.
But the wandering thoughts of the Count were interrupted by the voice of his wife:
"Follow me, and let me give you something."
The ghost led the trio into the living room and stopped at a desk, from where she took an old paintbrush.
"I recognize it," Drac said, "This is the brush that you built in Hawaii after losing your pencil case. You used a twig, pitch and a lock of your hair. You became so attached to it that you used it even back at home."
"I'm glad you still remember it," The woman said, smiling, moved by the old memories, "Even now, I'm very attached to this object."
"So you are the mysterious painter who painted the pictures?" Mavis asked.
"No, more than anything, I was a muse. A restorer found my tools under the rubble, and when he touched this brush... let's say he got a bit of inspiration." Martha told, chuckling, then took her husband's hands in hers and left him with the brush, "I want you to keep it, it would never be appreciated enough in here"
The old vampire smiled bitterly, "Thank you..." He sighed.
Then Martha turned to her daughter and the boy, "You are soulmates, I see a bright future ahead for you. It was a pleasure to meet you, Johnathan, I don't need to tell you to take care of my daughter, because I know you're already doing it, and you'll always do it"
"T-Thanks ma'am..." The human said, throwing his head up, a little embarrassed.
Then Martha went to Drac "It is also for you..." She said, then his eyes widened, breaking his frowning "You know I can no longer stay, I promised myself that I would remain in here just enough to make sure you were well. And you all are. I'm so sorry I can't stay with you." These words brought everyone back to the sad reality, "But now, I feel at peace with myself..."
"So, you are leaving now?" The Count asked, although knowing the answer.
"Drac, you kept your promise to take care of our daughter, but now, you should be taking good care of yourself. You keep hiding it, but I can see how much your heart suffers from loneliness..."
"No." The vampire broke off her, abruptly, "I know what you want say, but I can't."
"You can't or you don't want to?" The woman replied.
"I cannot, I made a promise."
"Don't make excuses. 'Till death do us part', remember? Learn to live in the present and build your future, not to be chained to the past."
The Count was silent for a moment, "You're not the first one who's made such a speech to me."
She giggled, then went to Mavis and hugged her, just as she had done when she had seen her mother, and then she lowered her head and whispered in Mavis' ear, so as to not be heard by her husband:
"I see the darkness hidden in your heart. What happened to you must have been horrible. I'm so sorry for you, you're young and yet you have such a heavy burden... You must be a very strong girl, if you can keep it under control, but be careful. Don't tease the sleeping demon."
Having said that, the ghost returned to her ethereal blue transparent form, began to shine, and disappeared forever.
The three stood there, Mavis seeming to be specially upset, and not only for the loss of her mother, but she calmed down when her father moved a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"At least we had the opportunity to say her goodbye. Now she can rest in peace, knowing that we are all well." Drac said with an encouraging smile.
The girl looked up at him, returning the smile, but she was not calmed at all. Not after what her mother had said to her.
"It's time to go, soon the sun will rise. Who could have imagined that this trip would be so exciting? "The vampire concluded.
"Yeah, it was amazing," Johnathan said, "I also took a reminder of the rejoined family!" He continued by showing them his mobile phone. The boy had photographed, Martha and Mavis embraced, and Dracula behind who looked them, moved. It was a special and spontaneous picture.
The two monsters smiled seeing it, they were happy to have captured such a exciting memory, among the best of their long lives.
The three left the castle, went back to the hearse, and retured to the Hotel, this time at a more moderate speed, perhaps because the young driver was not in such a hurry to go back home.
But the trip was not infinite, and in a few hours they left the haunted forest and arrived at the Hotel Transylvania bridge.
"It's a bird?" The boy asked, looking at something that was flying at high speed at about the height of the castle's roof.
"It's a plane," The girl said, also puzzled at the unidentified flying object that seemed to head at high speed towards them, then looking closely at it, "Isn't that my cousin William?"
Meanwhile, the Count was sitting quietly, watching the old paintbrush, losing himself into memories of a remote, but still not faded, past. His dream was brutally broken by something crashing violently against the windshield, smashing through it and causing loss of control of the vehicle, which crashed into the bridge's wall, breaking it and stopping the hearse with two wheels suspended in the air.
The three went out, a little sore but unharmed.
"Are you all right?" Drac said, and after seeing Mavis nod and Johnathan putting his thumb up he felt reassured, "What the hell was that?" Then he saw what had destroyed his hearse, "A cannon-cube?"
Whatever it was, it was chrome-plated and cubic shape of about forty inches, but it was hard to tell what it was because it was stuck in the crashed vehicle.
Mavis walked over to it and tried to pull it off, but instead it opened.
"It's... a mini-bar..." The girl said, and a moment later a puppy werewolf came staggering out of the car.
Drac's temple-veins bulged and his eyes turned bloodshot, while an eyelid began to twitch from anger.
"Wayne!" The enraged vampire roared with all the air in his body, and right afterwards he got an unexpected response:
"Hey, Drac, already back?" It was just the werewolf man and beside him were Wanda and the other puppies.
"Wayne!" He said taking the wolf by his shirt and bringing him closer to a face-to-face with himself, "Look at the mess your puppies have done!" He concluded pointing to his wrecked car, which began to sway dangerously and the Count barely had time to mutter "No... no... no..." when the old hearse fell into the lake and was eaten by the hungry piranha .
"What the hell?! What kind of fish live in this lake?" Exclaimed Jonathan, "I went for a swim in there a couple of times!"
Dracula turned back to Wayne, even angrie, but said nothing.
"I have to pay the bill of the minibar this time too? At least give me a little discount, the last time I brought it back into my room..." The werewolf said, but the vampire's expression went unchanged.
"Do not worry, Drac," said Wanda, "Add the minibar count to our bill, and the hearse too. Anyway, I think that the puppies have found the grenade that you claimed to have put in an impossible to find place."
"Yes, the grenade that you brought here." Dracula let him go, "Come on, I want to tell you something." He concluded, walking towards the castle.
The night ended with a private dinner involving Mavis, Johnny, Drac and his dear friends in which the three told the little adventure that allowed him to meet again with Martha.
While dinner was almost over Johnathan's phone began to vibrate.
-Damn!- The young man exclaimed, -My mother! A hundred notification came in when I turned on my phone, but I forgot to call her back!-
"Poor woman," Drac commented, "When was the last time you called her, three weeks ago?"
"Nearly four now..." The human said, answering the phone, then he brought it near to his ear, "Hello?" Having said that he withdrew it again.
A few seconds of silence and then, even though the volume was set at minimum, they heard a rapid succession of undefined words and Johnathan occasionally replied "Yes, I'm sorry.", "Sure...", "I understand." While not listening anything of what his mother was saying.
After Zoe's long and incomprehensible monologue, she finally calmed down and began to speak normally:
"But I didn't call you just to know howyou and Mavis where doing, I also wanted to ask you if you had heard the latest news coming in just from Transylvania. It seems that yesterday a local boy discovered a previously unknown castle in the midst of a forest..."
At these words Drac jumped to his feet and in a flash he reached the boy, "YOU! YOU BETRAYED US?" He growled, but keeping a low voice so as to not be heard beyond the handset.
The human withdrew into himself like a turtle, "I swear, I have not told anyone about this place!" Thentwen back to talk to his mother, "But how did he discovered this castle?"
"A young dude saw fireworks coming from the forest and curiously he watched the satellite images of Google Earth."
"Images from satellites? Humans are spying on us even from the moon?" Drac asked, shocked.
"No, artificial satellites, technological gizmos that fly around the Earth and take pictures. You can't see them from down here." The human explained
Drac began to panic.
"They have found us..."
"But I though you had the anti-aircraft witches?" Frank asked.
"Useless. They make a mirage above the castle only when they see an aircraft, not all the time. It would be too tiring." The Count replied.
"So what do we do?!" Eunice cried with her shrill voice.
"We must prepare to leave the hotel, we'll destroy it if necessary." Dracula answered, bluntly.
This plan left everyone bitter, but they knew that there were not many other options.
"Try to talk with the humans? The truth- "Johnathan proposed, but he was interrupted by the old vampire:
"No way, there are decisions that I cannot take on my own! However, this doesn't convince me, tomorrow all the members of the Order of the Dragon will be coming, and in two days the council will be held. I don't believe it's a coincidence that, after all these years, this castle is discovered just at such a sensitive time like this."
"You have any idea as to who is responsible?" Griffin asked.
"Yes," The vampire replied, "I already have two names..."
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