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CHAPTER 19 - Owl
Whaaa, whaaa!
The loud scream of the skull phone echoed through Mavis and Johnathan's room, waking up the girl, who had to give her boyfriend a slight pat in order for him to wake up.
"Uh? Give me five more minutes, mommy..." He mumbled in his sleep.
Mavis gently kissed him on his lips, and he opened his eyes slowly, and smiled.
"Good... morning?" The boy said, uncertain.
Just a faint light coming from the sides of the black and purple curtain made the room visible to the human's eyes.
"Yes, good morning..." The vampiress replied with a thin veil of melancholy. The day that they feared so much had come, and they could no longer go back or ignore it. It was time to face reality.
The girl sat on the bed and Johnathan gently took her hand, "I'll be by your side no matter what happens." He said in a reassuring tone.
Mavis half smiled, got out of bed, and went to her closet and opened it, focusing on the clothes that Erzsebeth had given her.
"Maybe you should avoid those clothes," Johnathan said, sitting on the bed, "They are great, sure, but it would be better not to wear them, those two evil vampires were not loved by the Dragons, and I wouldn't want them to think that you were on their side."
"You think so?" The vampire girl replied, "Maybe you're right..."
"Moreover, your classic little black dress makes you look naive and defenseless. We are trying to soften up their hearts ..." the boy continued, smiling.
Mavis looked back at her closet, then she picked up her black dress and turned to her boyfriend, "So, that's fine?" She squeaked, putting the dress in front of her.
Johnathan gave a nod with his head, and so, the vampiress pulled down her dress but it did not fall, in fact now she was wearing it.
"Johnny, dress up and go to my father at the conference room. I must do something first, I'll join you soon." That said, Mavis wore her red and black striped leggings and red slip-on Converse, and turned into a bat, flying through the door and leaving the boy alone and speechless, wondering the reason for that hasty escape.
The young vampiress flew rapidly through the corridors of the castle. Giving a quick look she saw that they were full of monsters that she had never even seen, and they were really so many, the conference room that her father had built in the large dining room would not be enough to contain even half of them, but her thoughts were elsewhere, and she did not care at the moment.
No one paid any attention to the little bat that went undisturbed until it reached the dungeons, reaching the door of Ruthven and Erzsebeth's room where she returned to human form.
Mavis took a thoughtful breath through the nose. She did not like to be there. She opened the door, walked up to the luxurious bed, and sat down with high knees, hugging her legs. She sat in silence with eyes closed for a moment before turning her gaze towards the old nightstand that supported the minibar.
She had learned to control her bloodlust, it was now only a physiological need and not an uncontrollable and insatiable craving, but, despite it all, she was disappointed by herself for not being able to resist. She wanted to be strong, like her father, but she could not risk becoming a threat to Johnathan. After all, she only needed a half-liter bag to be fine for a few days, and it was not a lethal quantity for a human. But that blood, left by the two evil vampires, would not last forever, and her father would not allow her to hunt. And in any case, she would never do it.
At this thought, Mavis stood up and opened the mini-bar. In addition to the usual bottles, there were also eight transfusion bags, and she took one.
"Four liters. Maybe they will be enough for a month ..." She muttered through her teeth, moving the soft bag without labels but with the inscription "Oct. 28, 2012" and a circle with strange symbols, drawn with a thick permanent marker.
"And then, what will you do?" A voice asked behind Mavis, who spun around, not scared, but surprised that she had not noticed someone approaching her, but in fact there was nobody.
"Griffin, is that you?" She timidly asked. It did not seem like his voice, but who else could it be?
The young girl did not get an answer, and there was a sudden noise of slammed wings, but when the vampire turned toward the sound, she could only see some feathers swaying slowly towards the floor, so she looked back and saw an owl with black and dark gray plumage perched on the brilliant crystal chandelier.
She stared into its brown eyes, "Did you speak?" She asked, almost amused.
The nocturnal bird returned the penetrating look, "Owls don't speak." It replied after a pause, his voice too human to be that of an animal with beak.
Mavis giggled through clenched teeth, putting the bag of blood back in the fridge, "I have never seen monsters like you. You are here to follow the Council or to see the human being whom I am in love?" She continued, slightly annoyed. She had had bad experiences with the curious, and especially with journalists.
"The human I do not care for, and the Council... well let's say that I should stay away from them ..." The owl said, jumping down from the chandelier and gliding down towards the chest of drawers.
Mavis tilted her head to the side, "Hal?" She asked.
"In the flesh... and feathers" The rapacious bird answered, doing a reverence.
"Is it not dangerous for you to be here?"
"No, I'm good enough to be able to go unnoticed. Even by the dragons."
"Such modesty..." The young girl said sarcastically, "My father told me about your ego. He also warned me that we can't trust you."
"Sure... In fact, you can trust him when he tells you that human blood sucks, or when he lets you go in a human village, or maybe when he hires you to hold off a docile half demon... ask him about the debt he has with me, after all he has accepted the conditions. Fortunately, I am a gentleman and I didn't want to collect." His voice had become more and more angry and aggressive.
"What are you talking about?" The vampire exclaimed, confused.
"No, nothing, I digress. I was looking for you because, as you can imagine, I won't be present for the Council. I'm not suicidal enough, and, therefore, I'll need to stay in contact with you, little Mavis."
"M-me?" She said, pointing at herself.
"Yes, you take the defenses of your father. Don't worry, I'll tell you what to do."
"And you don't risk being intercepted?"
"You monsters rely too much on magic, and you think that others do the same. Very often, the human technology is better and safer", and with one leg he pulled out from under the wing a necklace with a large dark gray bat with spread wings, and from the top of one was a chain with a red metallic wire, and in the other a locking ring. "I hope you like it. Come on, wear it."
The young vampire picked it up and looked at it, "Yeah, well, it's nice, thank you." She said as she wore it around her neck, then she raised her gaze back to the owl, "But how does it work?"
"Very simple, inside the bat is a hidden radio and in the chain there is the antenna to the inductive earpiece that I'm giving you now." That said the big bird began to retch, and soon, he regurgitated a small metal cylinder with a diameter of only a pair of millimeters, "And this is the micro-earpiece." He continued, moving it toward the girl with one leg, "Put it deep in your ear, and no one will notice it." He concluded.
Mavis fearlessly obeyed, making Hal chuckle lightly. The vampiress looked bewildered, so he replied, "After being around humans so much among, I had forgotten that you monster girls aren't picky at all."
She tilted her head, "You live in close contact with humans?" She asked, resting her hands on the chest of drawers, getting her face near to Hal, who remained impassive.
"I spend more time among humans than monsters, especially at this time." He replied, disinterested, "You just have to be careful for them not to find out who you really are."
"And can you teach me how to live in the human world?" Mavis asked, more and more excited.
"We'll face one problem at a time, you have too many already" The rapacious bird said, glancing briefly at the minibar.
Mavis frowned, but, before she could say anything else, Hal continued, "I know what you are thinking, but you are not weak at all, yours was a bold and correct decision. Your father had a strong vampirism, and was able to stop himself out of necessity, but if you have a crisis while you're with Johnathan, you could hurt him. If you need blood I can provide it. And if you care about its origin, just know that I don't have to kill anyone to get it."
"But at what price?" Mavis asked, worried about what the answer would be.
"Everything has its price, we'll talk when you need it." The mysterious owl replied.
"Now I'm even more worried..." The young girl admitted.
The nocturnal bird of prey chuckled, and, soon after, their attention was caught by the opening door. It was Dracula, but, as he entered in the luxurious suite, he looked behind him, as if talking to someone. He was being followed by two people, a man who was no more than three feet tall, with red hair and beard, who wore green knickerbockers, shirt, jacket, and top hat, and a stout woman with short, light blue hair and a long blue dress with golden Celtic knots to finish the skirt. They froze when they saw Mavis, intrigued by her behavior. Drac turned, surprised to find his daughter.
They were probably members of the Order. Hal was in great danger, but when she turned back to him she saw nobody. He had disappeared without anyone noticing him.
"What are you doing here?" The woman asked.
"Sweet claws! Let me introduce you." The Count broke in, trying to change the topic, "As you may remember, this is my daughter Mavis, she has turned 118 recently."
"Yes, I remember, I met her during the Council Emergency in 1945, here, at your hotel," Then she shifted her gaze to the vampiress, "You have not changed at all."
"And Mavis, this is Nessie, dragoness of the Great Lakes, Councilor and warrior of the Order of the Dragon. She is the spokesperson for the aquatic creatures of lakes, rivers and swamps, and the Lord here is Sir Allister Sassafeas, leprechaun king, Councilor, spokesman of the Little People, i.e. fairies, pixies, gnomes..." At these words the leprechaun frowned, then the old vampire leaned down to get close to Mavis, and, putting a hand over his mouth whispered in her ear, "He's very sensitive about his height, and he sulks even when they remind him that he is the spokesperson of the Little People."
"Nice to meet you" Mavis politely said to the two.
"Likewise" Nessie said.
The leprechaun stood for a moment in silence and, after a few puffs of his pipe, he gruffly replied, "Instead of wasting our time, why don't you tell us what you were doing?"
Dracula gritted his teeth and gulped. He knew what she was doing in that room, but he preferred it if the other members of the Order continued to see her as a pretty and innocent little vampiress.
Mavis looked down, narrowed her eyes and sighed thoughtfully, "I was thinking back to my mistakes... I hate having been so stupid as to believe that Erzsebeth was my friend. My father had warned me, but I didn't heed his warnings."
"You're still a young girl, you have much to learn. This world is not black or white like your father made you believe, but the fact that you are learning from your mistakes makes you more mature." Nessie tried to console her with a loving voice.
"Maybe you'll learn to understand who you can trust, and then you will understand that the human you're in love is not that different from Erzsebeth. Humans are all greedy exploiters" the Leprechaun broke in. Until then, he had only smoked from his pipe and said nothing. His voice was shrilly and sharp, making his words even more painful to the young vampiress, who looked up at him.
"They say the same things about you leprechauns." The young vampire replied, equally venomously, surprising everyone, especially Allister, who remained silent, either because he did not expect such a disrespectful answer to a Councilor, and, above all, because he could not argue. Because, indeed, the leprechauns were famous for their greed, "Now I have to go, it will be a long day",the girl concluded and turned into a bat, flying away through the skylight on the ceiling, lucky for her, the sky was still cloudy.
Allister turned towards Dracula, who gulped. Perhaps his daughter was a bit too impulsive, responding the way she did, and having a Councilor against them was not a good idea. And it was not the only thing that worried him.
Until then, Mavis was always calm, and she had never replied to anyone in a wrong way, and he did not know if her new character was due to last month's events, which had irremediably turned the naive nature of his little daughter, or if it was the demon, still hidden in her heart, who bent her feelings, and this second hypothesis worried him a lot.
"What a temper, that of the girl..." The leprechaun said, bringing the old vampire back to earth before he got any more lost in his thoughts. However, he did not seem angry, "She is the spitting image of you, woe to insult people you care about..."
Perhaps Allister was right, perhaps Mavis had never replied in such a bad way to anyone because, until then, she had never had anyone to defend. Maybe it was just an illusion, but at that moment the old count needed to cling to every little hope he could get.
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