Thanks to my beta reader floodmaster16.
I'm sorry, the corrected chapter was ready on december 14th, I was sure I uploaded it the same day but I think there were some problems and I realized only now that the chapter hadn't been published.
CHAPTER 29: THE VERDICT
"Let her go!" The boy shouted, but how could a frail human give orders to such a monster?
"Show your honor, show your courage. Defeat me and I won't kill the girl."
Jonathan clenched his fists. Where was Drac at that moment? Where were all the monsters? They all seemed to have gone away.
Meanwhile, Mavis did not react. Perhaps she was unconscious?
If only Dracula had been there... but where had he gone to now that his help was needed? Had the dragons created a barrier to keep him from approaching? It seemed most likely, but that didn't change the problem at the time. Jonathan was alone.
But seeing Mavis in those conditions was too much for him, so he put aside his common sense and started to run towards that monster, a desperate and meaningless race, surprising Shin Ryu, "You have courage, I never thought that possible. Let's see if you have strength, too." That said, she launched a vertical tail shot that destroyed most of the wooden judges' bench and all the floor tiles under its weight, but the human managed to avoid it by jumping off at the last second. She did not stop, however, and a second attack, this time horizontal, demolished what little remained of the bench. Jonathan avoided the blow once again, more or less. He managed to jump at the right moment, but that tail was bigger than he could jump up, so he rolled over it and was thrown away, falling on the floor, to be then covered by wood debris.
He was covered in dust and pieces of wood. He coughed loudly and could not stand on his feet, but revived suddenly when he heard a scream echoing in the room, a muffled cry of pain. It was Mavis, strangled in the dragoness's coils.
The boy stood up. He was close to his goal, but was he going to do once he reached Shin Ryu?
He didn't think twice about it and started running again, not caring about the pain of the scratches or the dust that burned his throat.
The dragoness launched a new attack, this time more direct, roaring and throwing herself with unsheathed claws against the human.
When Jonathan fought Camazotz he had Mavis' love as a wepon, and that succeeded in subduing the demon. Against Erzebeth he had Dracula's estoc, a sacred weapon forged with the spirit of a dragon who gave his life to create it, a living weapon capable of instilling courage and combat ability into those who wield it, capable of hurting or being harmless at will.
But in that moment he was alone against the oldest and most powerful living dragon. He never wanted to think about what he would do when seeing Mavis in danger, but now he had to act and as if he were being guided by a whisper in his mind he jumped towards Shin Ryu. The human almost seemed to fly and, as he reached the monster, he clenched his fists, ready to strike, then realizing he was no longer alone.
A swift thrust passed through the clawed hands before they could react, the estoc in his hand piercing the hard green scales of the dragoness' skin like butter, and everything turned black in an instant.
"You're just back? Is the human dead?" It was the shrill voice of Allister the leprechaun.
Jonathan opened his eyes. He was back in the great Council room, all the monsters including Mavis were sitting in their seats, and the judges bench was intact and the floor too.
Maybe it was just an illusion, but Jonathan was still sore, and then thought back to the words of the leprechaun. In all likelihood, he had been taken to another place made to look like the great hall with magic.
There was a dead silence in the room.
In front of him, Shin Ryu in human form, the estoc in the boy's hand was still stuck in the woman's chest. Her green kimono was stained with blood up to her knee. It was a ghastly wound, but she didn't seem fazed by it. Her eyes were full of amazement and disgust in equal measure, not worry or pain.
Jonathan withdrew the sword, and the dragon queen took it by the blade.
"You're not worthy of brandishing one of our sacred blades!" The woman roared, then tried to tear it away from the boy, but the estoc didn't move an inch despite Jonathan not having the strength to fight a dragon.
This astonished all of those present, as well as further infuriating the dragoness.
"It seems that my rapier obeys Jonathan more than the queen." Dracula exclaimed, satisfied.
Jonathan looked at the sword and thanked it with a smile, which it seemed to understand, because soon after it vanished.
Shin Ryu returned to her seat with a jump. She tried to hide it, but she was as nervous as she had ever been since the beginning of the council.
Jonathan took his seat next to Mavis.
"Are you ok?" The girl inquired earnestly.
"I'm good." He replied, then, absentmindedly showed his peeled elbow to the vampiress. A drop of blood ran down his arm almost to his wrist, and only at that moment did the boy noticed his mistake, Shin Ryu looking at them smugly.
Mavis looked at the wound, worried, but then calmed down.
"Dad, do you have something we can use?"
Dracula took his black silk scarf off and gave it to his daughter, who used it to cleanoff the boy's blood, which strangely did not make the girl go haywire.
Jonathan was amazed by his girlfriend's behavior. His blood had always been a problem for her, but at that moment she seemed completely indifferent and in control.
"A cowardly move." Dracula exclaimed, looking at the dragoness, who was in visible disbelief at Mavis's lack of reaction, "Do remember that she's my daughter, and she has the same will power I do." He continued, pretending that his daughter's behavior was normal, but actually more surprised than the judge herself.
"No cowardly move." She countered, "I have to make sure that they are not illegally-vampirized humans because of you. At this point, I think it is unnecessary to hear more testimony, if the two accused have nothing to add we can start voting." There would be plenty of other monsters to listen to, but Shin Ryu knew that the hotel guests -the only monsters who knew Jonathan- liked him, so hearing other stories would do nothing but benefit the couple.
"Yes, I would like to make one final observation." Mavis replied, "Over the last century, human-monster relationships have increased exponentially. The lack of certain laws has led many couples to live in the shadows and to illegally transform their lovers into monsters. I therefore call for a worldwide public vote to legalize or ban all interracial couples once and for all."
"It's out of the question!" The queen of dragons countered, but her words raised an uproar of whistles and what seemed to be insults in monstrous languages from the audience. Many Councilors were indignant, too.
The dragons were used to laying down the law, sure of their supremacy, and this was what Mavis had to leverage. Putting the community of monsters against the dragons meant that the people would be on Jonathan and Mavis' side, and at that point the other councilors could not go against their' voters preferences. Moreover, if people voted in favor of mixed relations, the young couple would no longer have a trial to fear.
Meanwhile the dragon queen tried to restore silence by beating her wooden hammer, but there was nothing to do, the spectators were furious. "Okay, okay!" Shin Ryu screamed over the other voices, "We will organize a worldwide public vote to enact a law that regulates love affairs with humans."
Only these words made it possible to restore order in the room.
"But until the enactment of new rules," the master judge continued, "We have to decide what to do with you by following current regulations." This was like a bolt from the blue for Mavis. Shin Ryu had screwed her over, "But don't despair, if you really love him you can go and look for him once these foul couples are legalized." She concluded with a chuckle.
Lose Jonathan and search for him in a few years? Better than losing him forever, but they would have erased his memory. He would no longer have any memory of monsters, Mavis and their adventures. Only feelings would remain, those cannot be erased by any magic, but what feeling would remain in his heart? Love for a girl he doesn't know? A lost love leaves a void inside, and if Jonathan tries to fill that void with another girl? No, Mavis could not weigh it down, it would take years to find an agreement on monster-human relations and it was not certain that a world referendum would give a positive outcome to the question.
"Ultimately," Shin Ryu said, turning to Jonathan, bringing Mavis back down to earth, "Do you declare yourself worthy of trust by all monsters or not?"
"Of course I do." The human being replied, "And I have shown it on every occasion that I have faced in these last two months."
"It's not enough for me." The dragoness continued, "I vote for mistrust."
"MISTRUST!" Allister Sassafras the leprechaun yelled, jumping to his feet in the chair, but given his height he was still lower than the other Councilors.
"I vote mistrust." Nessie the dragoness of lakes said. Although she decided not to answer right after her queen, it was obvious that her vote was connected to Shin Ryu's one.
"I will vot on trust, in my stead. Love of any kind should never be hindered." They were the trailing words, as if he had just woken up, of Jay Ci.
"I'm sorry, but I've seen too many humans who would do anything to escape death. Maybe that's not your case, but I can't give you my trust." Donna Sebastiana seemed really disappointed as she gave her opinion.
"You've earned my trust." These words startled everything from astonishment. Gojira had gone against the will of his own queen, who in fact looked at him angry, "Although I would never approve this kind of couple, I have to go against my principles. Before anything else, I am a dragon warrior and I cannot ignore the judgment of a sacred blade. If it has deemed you trustworthy, I cannot do the opposite."
This was against any of the more optimistic forecasts, but a favorable vote could not be enough.
There were a few moments of silence, some judges were still undecided. Perhaps Gojira's own decision would make the others stop to do some reflection, or at least that was what Mavis hoped.
She was upset and who could blame her? Nine judges, and already four were against them. No one else could vote on mistrust, otherwise she would lose her zing. But what were the chances for three more positive votes? Few, especially after Johnny's criticism of the Snow Queen's love life.
The situation seemed disastrous, and even though Mavis did everything to keep her emotions, she was sweating cold. Jonathan, on the other hand, was too quiet.
"I vote trust." This unexpected female voice thrilled the young vampire. Snedronningen, the Snow Witch, against all predictions, was supporting the couple, "Perhaps the human is right, even on me. For too long I have closed off my emotions, but I'm tired of living like this."
"Would you trust him just because he gave you a couple of dating tips?" Shin Ryu exclaimed sourly, worried that the woman's vote would influence the vote of the last two undecided.
"No." Countered the Snow Witch, "Objectively, the accusation has been limited to suing the behavior of other humans, instead of making real accusations towards the accused."
"Trust." Merely said Hans, King of the Mole Men, an underground people of bald humanoids with gray skin and black eyes and long and thin fingers. He did not seem interested in the subject at all, but as Dracula imagined, he had simply followed the vote of one of the most impartial Councilors.
The judgment of the Extraordinary Council of the Order of the Dragon was going better than they had hoped. The hotel was deemed safe so it could stay open, Dracula's charge of invoking a demon had been suspended, and if he could find the proof of Lamias' existence the old count could be exonerated. And finally, the legality of interracial relationship between Mavis the vampiress and Jonathan the human had the unexpected consent of half jury. Only one vote was missing, the decisive one by Neptune the Triton, the old friend of Dracula and therefore the result was quite obvious.
The bearded merman stood up, "Drac, I thought about it and ... I can't get my daughter out of my mind. I hope you don't have to suffer like I did. I can't trust the boy." He slowly pronounced these words, bitter for both going against his friend's wishes and for his sadness at the loss of his beloved daughter.
It was a blow to Drac, but it was worse for Mavis. Only the sight of Jonathan dying in that dream she had lived right after the clash with Van Helsing was a worse torture. She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak or move an inch. She stood like a statue, an inanimate object, not unlike the gargoyles of the castle.
Even Johnny began to understand what was actually happening, and he no longer had that carefree, dazed-by-marijuana face.
The audience was stunned. There were a few murmurs, but this silence did not last long.
Shin Ryu had just opened her mouth to pronounce the verdict…
it's over. It seems that the fate of the most discussed couple in monsters' world is sealed. What will Jonny and Mavy do now? Find out in the next chapter!
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