Chapter 5
The door rattled on its hinges and with swift movements, the princess locked it. She searched for anything to barricade the door yet found nothing. With long fast breaths, she threw herself onto the bed and wept. If she had known he was a vampire…
Another sensation swept through him as fast as lightning. Ericka was conscious of Dracula's presence and of his being as though lapped in a storm of rage. As her eyes opened unwillingly, Ericka saw blue eyes distorted with anger.
Then he paused and she could feel the hot breath on her neck. She could feel the gentle, shivering touch of his cold hand on the delicate skin of her neck, just touching and pausing there.
Ericka closed her eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited; waited with a beating heart.
BAM!
She got the pan up, hitting him over head, causing him to fall to the floor, and dragging him away from the bed in a fluid motion. A look at his features had her suddenly pausing to briefly gaze upon his handsome long face.
A squeak of annoyance came from Pascal, snapping Ericka out of her trance.
Not wanting to cause anymore damage to his face, she hauled him into a chair. She had to act fast. She pushed his arms to the side and fastened the rope of her long hair around his wrists. Then pulled more out and tied it around his waist. Ericka felt his muscles tensing and quickly backed a few steps away.
Using his tail, Pascal slapped the vampire's face a couple of times. Sensing nothing, he stuck his tongue out, prodding his ear.
Dracula awoke with a start. "AHH! What…? What's going on?"
"Struggling…struggling is pointless. I know why you want me here. And I'm not afraid of you."
"What?"
"Listen, Count Dracula, no matter what you do I won't let you enthrall me."
The vampire, being a gentleman and a nobleman of high class knowing how to speak to women, cleared his throat, spoke calmly and replied, "Where did you get such a ridiculous idea like that?" He didn't give her the chance to continue. "I don't know why Salem thinks this hair of yours is so special, but tying me up like this is completely unnecessary. So, please, let me go, and we can talk about this."
But the blonde girl refused to untie him. "So, what do you want with me, vampire? Is it my hair? Do you wish to cut it, sell it?"
"What?! No!" Knowing he had the upper hand, Dracula rolled his eyes and changed into a shimmering blue mist. Ericka backed away in surprise, but he returned to his original form and faced her. "Listen, the only thing I want to do with your hair, was to get out of it. Literally."
"You…? Wait. You don't want my hair?"
Dracula shook his head. "And I won't enthrall you or suck your blood; it's so fatty and you never know where it's been." He sat down gripping his forehead.
"So, vampires don't drink blood?" Ericka cautiously approached him as she sat beside him.
"No, I use blood substitutes. Either near blood or blood beaters. You can't tell the difference. Eh, may, where I ask, did you come from?"
"Uh, my tower." Ericka replied. "I was in a situation with the ogres, but I escaped them. Pascal, Salem, and I were being chased through the forest by those creeps and we stowed away into a hearse." She paused, not wishing to get Sirena and Bianca involved. Then she remembered what else her mother told her about vampires. "So, wow, you're really Count Dracula, aren't you? Like 'I am Dracula, bleh-bleh-bleh.'"
"I've never said that in my life. 'Bleh-bleh-bleh.' I don't know where that comes from." Frowning, Dracula got up.
"Um, can I just ask, what exactly is this place?"
"What is this place?" Dracula repeated. The breeze lifted his cape off the ground as the balcony windows parted open and the moon's ray of light fell upon him in a dramatic manner. "It's a place I built for all those monsters out there lurking in the shadows. Hiding from the persecution of human kind. A place for them and their families to come and be themselves. A place void of torches, pitchforks, and angry mobs. A place of peace, relaxation, and tranquility."
"Wow, so it's like a hotel for monsters?" Ericka asked with a grin.
A moment of silence before Dracula replied in a flat tone. "Yes, exactly. 'A hotel for monsters.' Way to sum it up."
As Ericka gazed at him, she thought about what he said. He didn't seem to want to hurt her or want her hair. She realized he was telling the truth. She noticed an old painting in the room, a picture of the very floating lights she had always seen on her birthday, this time floating over the hotel. She was surprised that the monsters knew about the lights too, so maybe this could be her chance to see them. "Okay, Count Dracula, can you tell me what these are?"
Dracula looked at the portrait. "Oh, you mean the lantern thing they do for the human princess? One of my guests thought they were beautiful and requested a portrait of that night."
Ericka's face lit up. It was just as she thought. "Lanterns! I knew they weren't stars. Well, in three nights, they will light up the night sky with these lanterns. You will act as my guide and take me to see the lanterns. Then I can return home to my tower and you can return to your hotel."
This time instead of annoyed silence, Dracula openly scoffed. "Ha! You don't know what you're saying. Out there humans are evil. So I doubt any human is going to let us stroll right in to the kingdom."
Ericka gave a sad frown. She looked down at Pascal as he brought his hands into fists. Salem gestured for her to continue and gave a look to say 'Show him whose boss.'
Now frowning angrily, Ericka marched up to him, looking him right in the eyes. "Something brought me here, Count Dracula. Call it what you will; fate, destiny-"
"My cat."
"So I have made the decision to trust you."
"An unwise decision."
"But TRUST ME when I tell you this…" She had him corned out on the stone balcony railing and spoke hard and clear. "You can throw me out whenever you like, but you will never get rid of me, so unless you take me to see the floating lights, I will leave you alone in peace."
It took a moment for Dracula to comprehend what he had been told. "I take you to see the floating lights, and then you go back to where you came from while I return to my hotel."
"I promise."
But Dracula only gave her a raised eyebrow in doubt.
"And when I promise something I never ever break that promise…" Rapunzel kept her stone face on as she finished in a firm tone. "EVER."
"Alright, listen. You gave me no choice. There's only one way to change your mind." Dracula changed into his bat-form. His eyes grew big and wide, and his bottom lip quivered as he gave little moans. This is called the pouty bat face.
Ericka was having none of it. As far as she was concerned, it seemed kind of annoying no matter how adorable he looked.
After seeing how this wasn't working, Dracula finally relented. "Fine. I'll take you to see the lanterns."
"Really?!" Ericka's frown vanished, replaced with a perky, excited smile. "Thank you!"
Surprisingly, she threw her arms around the vampire's neck for a quick hug before letting go. It took Dracula a second to inhale the scent from her hair. She smelled like cookies and shampoo. He couldn't understand why he liked it, but he didn't matter as he had to get her out of here. He placed his hands against the wall, where he pressed against a loose brick that led towards a secret passageway. Ericka looked on, stunned.
"Follow me," he ordered, just as he went in first in a mist of blue.
Ericka trailed after him, with Pascal on her shoulder and Salem clinging on to her long braided hair. The walls behind them closed. Two minutes later, Dracula found a burning torch and took Ericka's hand and led the way through an underground tunnel.
"Where are we going?" Ericka asked.
"Just getting us out of a secret tunnel to the forest and to the village where you can go see these floating lanterns," Dracula replied.
"So, can I ask you a question? Is that real, about the garlic thing?"
"Yes, I cannot have it. My throat swells." Dracula stroked his long neck as soon as the duo came to a labyrinth.
"Oh. Wooden stake to the heart?"
"Yeah, well, who wouldn't kill?"
"What about sunlight? Do you turn to ashes as soon as it burns you?"
"No, it burns gradually." Dracula gave her a suspicious glare. "I hope you are not asking me these questions about my weaknesses so you can use them to take advantage of me."
"No! Of course not!" Ericka replied in defense. "It's just that my mother often told me scary stories about vampires when I was a little girl…"
Being distracted by Ericka's words caused Dracula to crash into the wall. Rapunzel flinched in sympathy. Dracula groaned and turned them around.
Coming to the first torch holder, Dracula said, "Ah. Here we go." He pulled the lever and the walls parted open.
It presented the duo a pink bed with two tiny fleas jumping on the looked at them in confusion. Pascal stared at the tiny fleas in bewilderment while Salem looked on with a smile. Dracula gasped awkwardly at the tiny couple.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I'm a little lost. Yes, I know it's your honeymoon, I apologize. Go back to doing what you were doing."
They stepped back and the wall closed. Moments later, they were around the corner from the tunnel and walked into the next one.
"Do you know where you're going?" Ericka asked, worried they might get lost.
"I'm not down here much. It's meant to be an exit if humans ever invade," Dracula replied.
"So, I'm like the first human here, huh? That's really cool."
"Oh, boy. I think this is it." Dracula pulled the switch and the wall opened for both of them.
There stood a lady skeleton in the shower and she screamed. "AAAHH! What's happening?!"
Ericka put her hands to her mouth in surprise. Pascal's mouth fell open and Salem smirked.
"I'm terribly sorry," Dracula apologized, "My mistake."
Her skeleton husband appeared and snapped, "What is WRONG with your people?!"
A sponge had been thrown in Dracula's face just as the wall closed up. Pascal and Salem laughed amusingly. Ericka kindly removed the sponge from his face.
"Thank you," he mumbled.
Later, the two found themselves in a different tunnel, the height of the tunnel dropped low and they had to walk with their knees bent.
"I have to say, this place is amazing," Ericka giggled.
"If you're referring to those honeymooning fleas and the skeleton in the shower, then yes, this place is amazing," Salem added with a teasing grin.
"Okay, I could really use some silence right now," Dracula growled.
The duo came down a staircase, only for Dracula to stop at the edge where the steps disappeared and a dark abyss right below. Ericka hadn't been paying attention so she nearly fell off the edge. Dracula used a free hand to grab her arm and pulled her back to steps and back up the staircase. As they ventured down another tunnel, they found another lever.
Dracula huffed as he pulled the lever, "All right, third time's the…"
Their eyes grew wide in shock to the sight before them. Dracula's friends were fighting with three zombies and beating them up. The room appeared to be a bar lounge with strange machinery. Dracula struggled desperately to close the wall with the lever, but he had been seen.
"Drac!" Frank called out.
Dracula pushed the white girl behind the wall and smiled sheepishly. "Yes, Frankie?"
"Hey buddy, what you been doing?"
"Don't move." Dracula whispered to Ericka before he got serious and entered the room. "Never mind that. What you been doing?"
"We wanted to practice your big number for Frank and Eunice's wedding and then these losers wouldn't get off the bandstand," said Wayne, with his mouth full.
"Okay. Put down Zombie Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven this instinct." Dracula ordered sternly.
Reluctantly, the three monsters tossed or butt-kicked or spat out the three zombies, and the group of werewolf pups ran off.
"Did you get to rehearse at all, Zombie Beethoven?" Dracula asked Zombie Beethoven, who groaned in response and shook his head.
"Listen Drac, we wanted to play something, like old times," Wayne explained, "We even thought maybe you'd sing with us."
Dracula chuckled awkwardly before he replied, "C'mon fellas. You know that I haven't sung in public since…Martha."
"Yeah, but we just thought how much, you know, my fiancée and I would love it," Frank said.
"I said NO!" Dracula's expression of rage with blood red eyes and bared fangs was so pure it struck Ericka like a physical blow. "Don't ask me again!" His friends looked terrified as Dracula resumed his oddly calm demeanor. "Okay. Now, let's hug the zombies. Let's all make up."
"Wow. He really scared you." Wayne gave a teasing smile at the golem monster.
"I wasn't scared. I was being polite. Okay?" Frank frowned in denial.
"I didn't know vampires can sing," Ericka said to herself. "But who is this Martha? And why doesn't he sing because of her? Where is she anyway?" Whoever she is, Rapunzel figured that she must be someone special to Count Dracula.
"Martha is…" Before Salem could answer, a little black spider dangled over her.
"Hello, there." The little spider greeted in a high friendly voice.
Ericka released a high-pitched scream. She stumbled into the room and fell over a table. Dracula glanced in her direction in deep worry as Frank marched right up to her with an angry expression. Quickly, Dracula shielded the white girl from the angry golem.
"WHO is that?!" Frank demanded, pointing at the girl behind the vampire's shoulder.
"Oh, dear. Are these monsters going to kill me?" Ericka asked, fearfully.
"Not as long as they think you're a monster," Dracula whispered back to her.
"Huh? That's kind of racist."
"We'll talk later."
Ericka started making babbling noises in her throat. She walked around and stretched her hands out. "Bleh, bleh-bleh," she said this repeatedly.
"Is she making fun of you?" Frank asked, a bit worried and offended for his friend.
"No, no. Of course not. Because…er…" Dracula grabbed her and yanked her to her side, giving her a brief glare to make her stop whatever she was doing. He whimpered in slight fear, quickly thinking of an excuse to hide Ericka's humanity. "Guys, you see its Frankie and Eunice's wedding, so I want them to have the bestest specialist wedding of their life, so…well…I…needed some help."
"Wait a minute. You asked someone to help you?" Murray asked.
"Captain Control Freak?" added Wayne.
Ericka gave a little laugh at the nickname. But something about the way Dracula looked at her told her to compose herself.
Dracula straightened his collar and said, "It's 'Count'… And yes, I thought having a female contemporary would be useful."
"Yeah, he totally needed a new outlook," Ericka added with a smile, earning her a glare from the vampire.
"At least someone agrees," said Griffin, his floating glasses suddenly appeared.
"But, you don't ask for help," said Frank, with a raised eyebrow.
"No, no! I do!" Dracula said quickly, trying to prove it. "Look, I am very good, but I thought it would be even more bestest specialist when someone of the female species helped plan the wedding. After all it's not just about Frankie, your new bride could use some help from someone her gender."
"Uh, hello." Ericka waved awkwardly. These were the very monsters her mother warned her about, but every one of them gave smiles of friendliness at her.
"Well,Ericka, great to meet you." Frank took her hand and shook it, causing the girl to bounce up and down in cartoon style as the golem shook her hand and body.
Dracula couldn't help but hold back a smile.
When Ericka's hand was pulled towards the glasses, she hesitated, but Griffin greeted, "It's good to meet you, mademoiselle."
After he kissed her hand, she drew it back. Ericka couldn't help but grin bashfully to be kissed on the hand. Like Griffin, Dracula could also be chivalrous. He didn't see a problem with that. They were rivals already. The look on his face could tell clearly he didn't approve of the invisible man kissing the blonde girl's delicate hand. Ericka looked down at her hand and sighed with relief. Her makeup was still there. Pascal popped up on her shoulder while Salem made her appearance known by walking towards an empty table and jumped up on it and sat down.
"Uh, this is Pascal, my friend." Ericka gestured to her chameleon friend.
"He's a cute little fella," Frank leaned down with a friendly smile, but Pascal hid behind his mistress' hair afraid of the giant golem.
"It's okay, Pascal, he's friendly," Ericka assured the chameleon.
"Anyway, what else brings you here?" asked Griffin.
"Oh, uh, well, I wanted Dracula to take me to see the floating lanterns because I've been dreaming about them my entire life," Ericka explained, "so I came here right after some ogres attacked me."
The four monsters exchanged looks of shock and sympathy for the blonde girl.
"That must have been rough for you, babe," said Murray. "But you're safe here. No ogres or humans ever came here."
"Funny you should mention humans since she is one," Dracula mumbled under his breath quietly.
Wayne soon got to the point for the girl's presence. "Okay, Rapunzel. Mr. Tight Coffin over here was planning to have these powdered lamo-s play at the wedding party."
The three zombies groaned sadly.
"So, anyways, we thought we could liven things up a bit." Frank brought the werewolf and mummy closer to his face as all three gave smiles.
Ericka's eyes lit up. "Wow! You guys play? Show me."
They played a classic tune, one that soon made everyone cringe, including Dracula and Ericka. The two exchanged looks of awkwardness. The tune even became like a lullaby to the guests in the lounge, putting them to sleep or out of pure boredom.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, guys. Stop." Ericka finally cut them off. "That's cute, but kind of dated."
Dracula smiled. "Yes. Thank you,Ericka." As he said this, the three smiling zombies appeared from behind him.
"You got to try something else." Ericka added brightly.
Dracula stared at the girl in confusion while the zombies groaned out "Huh?"
"Here let me show." Ericka got up on stage, took the microphone, and began to sing.
Wise men say only fools rush in
But I can't help falling in love with you
Shall I say would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you
Like a river flows
To the sea
So it goes
Some things are meant to be
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand
Take my whole life too
For I can't help falling in love with you
A crowd of amazed monsters gathered around the stage to listen to the new vampire girl. Dracula had a look of utter shock on his face, wondering what the hell was going on as this human girl was causing such chaos in his well-ordered world. However, that look of shock became something like fascination as he listened to her voice. So enchanting. So angelic. But he smacked his face to bring himself back to earth.
Wise men say only fools rush in
But I, I can't, I can't help, falling in love with you
Like a river flows (Oooh)
To the sea (Oooh)
So it goes
Some things are meant to be
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand
Take my whole life too
For I can't help falling in love with you (x2)
For I can't help falling in love with you
Before she could finish her song Ericka, who had done a little twirl, tripped over her long braid of hair and fell off the stage with a squeal and fell flat on her face. She sat up, showing that she was okay.
Frank picked her up and yelled excitedly, "I think Ericka is going to make this the…BEST…PARTY…EVER!"
Murray nodded in agreement. "Yeah! Maybe she can find a way to get me some chicks."
"We should do a dance contest!" Someone in the crowd suggested.
Everyone began talking all at once for ideas for the wedding. Ericka smiled bashfully as some of the monsters complimented her on her singing and one of them asked her for ideas.
However, Dracula levitated high above the crowd with a tone of finality. "We're not doing any of that! We've got to stay on schedule, all right?"
Frank rolled his eyes. "All right, Drac, all right." Then he smiled down at the blonde girl. "Ericka, you're coming too, right?"
"Sure. Maybe we could paint some decorations for the party." Ericka suggested.
"Sounds great!" Wayne agreed.
Dracula sighed loudly. "We don't have time for that."
Though nobody challenged him,Ericka moved her head to concentrate on him. "Well, maybe because you're always to uptight with everything."
Everyone went "Ooooh" at Ericka's remark.
Dracula clenched his fits, breathed quietly and replied in an overly sweet tone, "Ericka… can I talk with you for a minute?" He drew his hand under her arm, pulling her to a secluded area of the bar, and hissed, "What do you think you are doing?"
"I'm trying to help a little bit," said Ericka.
"I don't need help. I got this. Just do as I say and don't ruin anything."
"I'm not ruining anything."
"It looks that way to me. And second, if you want to see those ridiculous floating lights, why don't you get the hell out of here so you can't bother me anymore!"
As she glared daggers at the vampire, Ericka briefly began to think she'd made a mistake; a big one. Trusting this hot-headed vampire to take her to the floating lanterns. She had trouble before, with the ogres and it was possible that her instincts had grown sleepy. They were kicking in now, big time. She felt she was entering a situation she couldn't easily get out of. She faced the monsters, all of them smiling and saying great things about her and wanted to try her ideas eagerly. As Ericka fixed her gaze on them, she couldn't help but relate to the monsters. She dreamed of seeing the floating lanterns and these monsters wanted to do something new and fun. But neither of them couldn't because of either a protective mother or a controlling vampire. They certainly didn't look evil from what her mother told her. Could it be possible her mother had been wrong? She didn't know for sure. But one thing she did know was that these monsters needed help.
"How about a ball-dance?" Ericka shouted out to them, causing the monsters to look in her direction and suddenly all giving shouts of agreement.
Dracula cupped her cheeks to force her to look in his cold, piercing, blue eyes. "I told you, I won't have you ruining my friend's wedding. Now you will stop this nonsense once and for all!" He began to walk away back to the group of monsters.
"Hold on!"
The Count halted in his tracks as soon as Ericka had spoke. Dracula turned to look at her.
"Maybe you should think about what your friends want for once. Find your humanity! Have you ever asked what they'd like? But, perhaps you don't because you don't care about what they want, because the only thing you care about is yourself! You like to do boring stuff…AAH!"
Ericka didn't have the chance to finish. A dangerous red light flared in the vampire's eyes. His long fingers dug into her arms and pushed her against the wall with incredible force and speed. Ericka tried to pry him off, but he was too strong. Pascal tried to help her, but Dracula shoved him off his mistress' shoulder. Leaning in closer to Ericka's face as Dracula glared at her dangerously with those red slit eyes, causing her body to shake. He placed both hands on the wall preventing her from going anywhere.
"You have no idea with WHO you are dealing with, human. This is your warning. You're in my hotel and you do what I say." Dracula snarled in a soft but dark voice. "If you don't do what I tell you to…I WILL enthrall you, or I can suck every drop of blood from your body and you will never see your precious floating lights ever! GOT IT?!"
Wide-eyed in terror, Ericka nodded. "Y-Yes, Sir."
A moment later, his eyes returned to their normal blue shade. "Good. Then it's settled." His hands left the wall as he smiled pleasantly.
The vampire's demeanor left the blonde girl shaken and she watched him announce to the crowd of monsters that the next activity was in the library. Ericka watched them go. Then she trailed timidly behind. She didn't know why but she felt her heart beating faster for no reason when he smiled like that or his crimson red eyes looking through her, causing her to feel less afraid of him. She pushed that feeling out of her head, reminding herself that he's just a vampire with no heart.