Chapter 8
Dracula and Ericka walked together through the forest, travelling along a different route than the one they'd taken before. He had no desire to see the ogres again. Nor did he wish to recount the memory of their attack. Everything he'd experienced worried him. He thought of how Ericka had almost been attacked. Every moment he'd spent in the presence of the ogres stank of , beside him, stayed quiet throughout the walk.
Then, they approached a coven with a large, open gap. It was also shaped like a face. Dracula knew where it lead to and suddenly thinking of a way to cheer up poor Ericka from the attack, he said, "Follow me."
She looked up at him confused but then noticed he was walking ahead to the open cave. "Okay," Ericka sighed as she trailed after him, not knowing where they were going.
Finally, after an hour of going through a series of tunnels, they both exited from the chimney that was on top of the hotel. She followed the vampire to the middle of the roof and was in deep awe by the view she was seeing. "Whoa!"
Pascal's expression matched that of his mistress while Salem just stretched her paws out and laid down to rest, having seen this view before with her master.
"The view up here is incredible," Ericka sighed. "You can almost see where the lanterns appear."
Dracula cast a puzzled glance at Ericka . "You still want to see them?"
"Like I always said, I've been dreaming about them my entire life, of course I want to."
Dracula chuckled. "I meant to ask, uh, about your hair?"
Ericka became silent for a moment. Hesitating, she answered his question. "Oh, yeah. My hair. Mother said when I was a baby, people tried to cut it. They wanted to take it for themselves." She held her hair away from her neck to expose a small lock of brown hair, "But once it's cut, it turns brown & loses its power. A gift like that, it has to be protected. That's why Mother never let me…that's why I never left…"
Dracula gave her a sympathetic look, finally putting it together. "You never left that tower?" She nodded in silence. "And you're still gonna go back?"
"No! Uh, yes! Uh, I mean..." She ran her hands over her face and turned away in sadness. "It's complicated."
Pascal gave his mistress a sympathetic face while Salem listened in on their conversation.
Dracula reached out a hand, as if wanting to hold her hand or pull her into his embrace to comfort her. He, of course, knew what it was like to forever hide away because of the cruelty of humankind. He built this hotel to protect his own kind while this human girl remained in a tower to protect the magic of her long, golden hair. "Ericka , I..."
At that moment, Ericka looked out to the mountains in the distance and noticed the sky changing color to signal the approach of the rising sun. "Wow. The sunrise here must be amazing."
"Ouch!"
Ericka looked back to see Dracula pull his legs out of the sunlight, realizing that vampires can burn in the sun. "Oh, I'm sorry, you've probably never even seen the sunrise before, have you?"
"No, not really," Dracula explained. "Why do you ask?"
"C'mon, I have an idea." She grabbed his hand to help him to his feet. They ran across the roof until they reached a large chimney nearby. Ericka stood carefully in front of Dracula to block the sunlight from him. "Watch."
Not understanding what this human girl was up to, Dracula looked over Ericka's houlder and his eyes widened at the most beautiful sight he had never seen before. After a few minutes, Ericka stepped up behind Dracula and put an arm around his waist as she gently pulled him away from the light so it wouldn't touch him.
"This is the most incredible thing I have ever seen," Dracula whispered in awe.
Suddenly Ericka lost her footing and slipped on a loose roof piece. As she fell, she pulled Dracula down with her. His body crushing against her own. He turned himself around to find himself face-to-face with once again those alluring emerald eyes.
"Sorry!" Ericka apologized in embarrassment.
"Are you alright?" Dracula asked in concern.
"I'm fine. I just slipped."
"Oh, good."
Looking into those beautiful emerald eyes of hers, Dracula's breath hitched in his throat when he saw the light reflect off her eyes, almost as if they were real emeralds. As he studied her eyes, something stirred inside of him.
Dracula felt the sudden urge to kiss her. He tilted her chin up a bit and began to lean in. Ericka let out a small gasp as he came closer to her face, once more staring up into his astonishing sapphire eyes. Their faces came so close their lips almost touched, but then Dracula suddenly pull away as though some opposing fear forced him back. After everything he had worked so hard to protect, he could not afford to betray his friends. If they found out about her, they could never trust him again. Even worse, what would Martha think?
"Drac?" Ericka looked at him worried. "Are you okay?"
But the vampire drew away from her, coldly, as he turned his back on her. "You need to go."
"But, Drac..." Ericka approached him, but the Count pushed her aside.
"Be gone," Dracula said, waving his hand in dismissal.
He exited to a nearby roof window in a mist of blue. The blade of guilt pierced his heart, but he wanted to do the right thing. Ericka watched him go, sad and confused. Pascal leapt onto her shoulder and chirped worriedly.
"It's all right," she murmured, unsure if her words rang true.
She couldn't believe they'd been close enough to kiss, and thought about it for a moment. She didn't know why she wanted him to kiss her, but couldn't understand why he rejected her and ordered her to leave all of a sudden just when they were sharing a moment.
Ericka crept inside the roof window where he'd disappeared, with Pascal and Salem clutching her hair to hold on. She wasn't sure where he'd went, so she took the nearest corridor on her right - and nearly walked straight into a familiar female golem.
"Hey, sweetie," Eunice greeted, "Wanda and I are going to the spa. Would you like to join us?"
Ericka nodded. "Yes, thank you."
Eunice noticed her friend's sad look. "You seem upset. What's wrong? Did Quasimodo put the moves on you?"
Ericka held her friend's gaze, looking confused by what she meant for a moment. "Uh, no. I took a walk near the cemetery, and the same ogres that attacked me found me. Drac was there, and they attacked him too...and one of them tried to touch me...but Dracula saved me..."
Eunice, knowing what this meant, drew her arms around Ericka's shoulders. "You're safe now, sweetie. That Drac gave them what they deserve. In fact, there's a good pedicure we can get that'll make you feel better. What do you say?"
Ericka gave a little laugh. "I'd like that."
"Good." Eunice looked down at Pascal and Salem. "But you two can't come. Remember what happened last time you snuck in, Salem?"
"You better not bring THAT up!" Salem hissed, before taking Pascal away by carrying the scruff of his neck with her mouth like a mother cat carrying her kitten.
Ericka and Eunice linked arms and headed towards the spa. Though Ericka was very concerned for Dracula, she decided to find him later. A trip to the spa was just what she needed after everything she had been through.
Elsewhere in the hotel, Dracula had been pacing back and forth in the lobby. His thoughts brought him back to that almost kiss with Ericka, and his sudden feelings for her. He wondered how this could have happened when he remembered their first meeting in this very lobby. What he felt for her the second their eyes met described the very same feeling he felt for Martha on their first encounter. But the more he thought about it, it seemed true on one half and it seemed impossible believe on the other half. Dracula truly and desperately wanted to be around Ericka, because these strong feelings grew hard to resist, but the guilt for his lies and a traitor to his late wife's memory and monsterkind reminded him she is the very species he hated and despised because of the pain he endured of human's persecution and the death of his darling Martha. He vowed to never again feel anything for Ericka. Humans and Monsters don't belong together.
"Hey, Drac! What have you been up to?"
Dracula halted in his tracks to see Frank approaching him with a friendly smile. "Nothing, Frankie, I was just, uh, taking care of hotel business, you know."
"Well, I know it hasn't been easy planning my wedding," Frank said as he put a friendly hand on the vampire's shoulder, "The ladies went to have some fun in the spa. I think we should do the same, what do you say?"
Dracula smiled at his friend's suggestion. "You're right, Frankie, we do need some fun, and I know just where to have some fun. Gather the others and meet me in the sauna."
At this point he was willing to do anything to take his mind off of Ericka, even if she and her little pet frog were finally gone, or so he thought.
In the hotel spa, it looked like a once Medieval dungeon complete with spa equipment looking mostly like torture devices of varying kinds, such as an iron maiden used for acupuncture treatment, tables for stretching, and an octagonal shape cauldron which was the hot tub, which Ericka now relaxed in. Her friends, Eunice and Wanda, were also enjoying themselves; Eunice and a lady gremlin were getting deep tissue messages from Gustav, who happened to be the hotel's spa supervisor and head masseuse, while one of his other arms adjusted the temperature for Ericka in the hot tub, and Wanda and purple faced hag lounged comfortably nearby with their eyes covered with cucumbers. These ladies wore nothing but white towels that covered their own bodies, except for Ericka being completely nude in the water.
"I definitely needed this," Ericka sighed happily.
"I told you we needed some girl time," said Eunice.
"It's not often we get time away from our husband and fiancée ," agreed Wanda.
Eunice let out a sigh of content. "But, I'm still curious. What's going on between our new friend,Ericka, and Drac?"
This made Ericka nearly sit up straight in a snap as she heard this, startled and very embarrassed by the very mention of it. "What?!"
"You and Drac," Eunice gave a teasing smirk. "What's going on with the two of you? Do you like him?"
Ericka scoffed. "Pfft, no. C'mon, you guys. He is such a control freak and is so overbearing. It's like are you an idiot, or do you know you're adorable?" She finished her sentence with a dreamy look in her eyes.
The spa became silent. The purple faced hag and the lady gremlin looked baffled. Eunice and Wanda, who removed one cucumber from one of her eyes, glimpsed at Ericka first and then to each other at what she just said.
"Oh. My. God." Eunice almost squealed in excitement. "She DOES like him!"
Wanda removed both cucumber slices from her eyes and spoke, "Well, I think you should give him a chance. Like I said before, he's really not so bad once you get to know him. It just hasn't been easy for him since he lost Martha."
"Martha?" Ericka raised an eyebrow, remembering she heard that name before in the bar.
"And a pretty girl like you, he'd be an idiot not to see how special you are," added Eunice, "Darling, you have a lot to offer."
Ericka gave a small smile, thinking they may be right. She had a hard time admitting to herself she might actually like Count Dracula. He did save her from those dreadful ogres. He took her to the roof to show her the view. And she showed him his first glimpse of the sunrise. But she still couldn't understand why he rejected her? Was it because he almost kissed her?
She thought about this for a short while, and then noticed something strange with the color in the warm water of the hot tub. Ericka gasped as she realized it was the white paint of her makeup as she took out her hand and it started to look a healthy peach instead of pale, which meant it was starting to wash off. Quickly she got out of the hot tub and wrapped a towel around her body, hoping it covered enough of her true human complexion to keep Eunice and Wanda from suspecting anything.
"Where are you going?" Eunice asked.
"Sorry, I have to go, uh…take care of, uh, something I promised Dracula. So, uh, I got to go." Ericka ran quickly out of the spa, hoping she didn't look too suspicious, and ran into what she didn't expect to see.
"Get away from us you...you...mangy mutts!" Salem hissed as she backed up into a corner by Wayne's pups. Pascal clutched on to the fur of her neck.
"Hey, leave them alone! Bad pups!" Ericka had only taken a couple steps to the small pack of growling pups when one of them let out a painful whine.
Using her claws, Salem struck out at one of the wolf pups and, with Pascal still on her back, maneuvered in and out of the shadows to escape. The wolf pups had only been distracted briefly by their brother's injury when they immediately took notice of the fleeing shadow cat and pursed her down the hall.
"Wait! Stop!" Ericka followed, hoping the wolf pups don't harm her chameleon friend or her black cat companion.
Thick hot steam filled the men's private sauna, looking exactly a once was a dungeon, raising the temperature high enough to make even undead monsters sweat. Dracula and his friends, Frank, Wayne, Murray, and Griffin, wore nothing but white towels, (except for Wayne since he only wore a white robe) gave long happy sighs as they settled in for some relaxation time.
"Didn't I tell you guys we'd have fun in here?" Dracula sighed in satisfaction, "Is this not the best?"
Blobby took a piece of his jello-like body and let it steam on a pile of hot rocks.
Wayne panted heavily in enjoyment, licking his muzzle. "Yeah, I'm working up a nice sweat. When's that Ericka girl going to be done planning the wedding? She's a great hang."
"Yeah, she's an angel," Frank agreed, "You know it was so nice seeing her laughing and hitting it off with you, Drac."
But Dracula became uncomfortable with this, even annoyed at his friends' mentioning that blonde human, whom he had finally gotten rid of, she was the last person he wanted to talk about. "Who's hitting what off? Please! I could never be with...someone like that naïve little nuisance."
"I'm sorry? 'Naïve? Nuisance?'" Frank questioned clearly shocked Dracula would insult that sweet blonde girl. "You're saying she's not good enough for you, Your Lordship?"
Dracula realized a second too late his unintended insult, clearly she must have gotten popular with his friends and none of them wanted to hear an insult about her.
"No, no, no! Frank, I didn't..." the vampire nervously tried to reassure his golem friend, never intending to insult the blonde girl, but he needed a good excuse and quick, "I meant that I wouldn't be into someone with such blonde hair...uh...even if she had red I would never..."
"Uh...What's wrong with red hair?" Griffin asked resentfully.
"Why are you getting upset?" Dracula asked.
"I HAVE RED, CURLY HAIR!" Griffin shouted.
"WELL, HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?!" Dracula yelled in frustration.
"C'mon, Drac," Murray irrupted in irritation, "You should at least give that babe a chance, she's a nice hot chick. Didn't you see how sexy she was at the pool? Speaking of which..." Murray got a weird smug on his face. "Why were you staring at her funny when she wore Martha's swimsuit?" he asked teasingly as he wiggled his eyebrows.
Dracula could only tense at the sudden question. Even in the hot stream and through thick sweat he blushed. "WHAT?! Where did you get such a ridiculous idea, Murray? There is absolutely nothing going on between me and Rapunzel!" Dracula scoffed in insistence.
"You sure?" Wayne asked with a raised eyebrow, "Because ever since she got here, you've been giving her funny looks, and you looked ready to tear apart the next monster who even looked at her."
"Nothing is going on!" Dracula responded harder. "Martha was the only one for me, the only one I could ever love! Ericka means nothing to me, even though she is nice, perky, and even beautiful." Slip of the tongue.
"Oooooohh," his friends whooped.
"Give it a rest, guys," Dracula scoffed with displeasure at his friends' teasing, hoping to drop the subject. "She's the most annoying, loud, naïve, and dumbest girl I have ever met!" He assed in distain.
"Excuse me? DUMB?!" Griffin's glasses clearly showed he was frowning.
Frank decided to speak up. "Ericka is your wedding planner for MY wedding, and I think you being selfish and cold-hearted is influencing your judgement. You've been lonely here too long so its time to face the facts! Ericka is a good girl, and you should give her a chance!"
The others voiced their agreements. Dracula had hoped after he finally got rid of the human girl, it was the end of that, but his friends weren't letting it go. This conversation wasn't what he had in mind at all when he wanted to relax with his friends.
Hoping to salvage the situation as his friends were growing irritated with him about his view of Ericka, Dracula said as reasonably as he could, "Look, settle down, fellas. This is all a mood point. Because Ericka, she…she left."
"Wait a minute. She left?" Murray repeated in disbelief.
"Yes!" Dracula claimed as he further fibbed, " Ericka realized she never wanted anything to do with me. So, she decided he didn't like me, or any of us." He leaned back casually and crossed his legs as he tried to relax, thinking it was finally the end of the conversation.
But then as if by some weird work of fate, the door threw open and the girl in question tried to calm down a freaking out Salem, but Ericka lost her footing and landed right in Dracula's lap, catching him on impulse.
At first Dracula looked very surprised to see her still in his hotel, looking down at her beautiful body in a towel and felt her one hand on his groin and the other on his pale chest. But she had come in here, barged in announced, right in front of his friends, this was very embarrassing. Whatever feeling he had in that moment vanished.
"Um, hi," Ericka greeted nervously as Dracula glared dangerously at this continuous human nuisance.
But Frank leaned in closer to them as he announced with suspicion which caused Dracula to worry, "Hmm, I guess Ericka had second thoughts."
"Uhh, about what?" Ericka asked.
"Dracula said that you...you hated us," Frank explained, hoping this wasn't true.
"Hate? I don't hate anybody! I love you guys!"
"Really?" Murray's face brightened up with joy.
"Yes!" Ericka nodded, while Dracula had a look of displeasure and annoyance.
"So, you still want to hang out with us?" asked Griffin.
"Sure. I'll hang with you whenever you want."
"You promise?" Frank asked.
"She promises!" Dracula yelled in irritation.
"STOP YELLING AT US!" Frank yelled back at him, loudly, as Ericka tightened her embrace around the vampire's neck looking just as scared as he was.
"AND TELL THEM TO STOP CHASING ME!" Salem growled loud enough to get their attention, pointing to the frozen group of wolf pups, staring at the grownups and their dad in towels.