Chapter 11
The night of the wedding finally arrived, or at least not until midnight.
Dracula got to setting up the ballroom by commanding the floating tables where to be placed, and ordering the zombies or witch maids to set up the silverware. Since Quasimodo remained frozen, the gargoyles proved to be excellent cooks as they prepared the wedding cake along with the buffet. Ericka helped Frankie and the boys work on a special song for the wedding party, and she painted a beautiful portrait of the newlyweds. Ericka envisioned the wedding eventually falling into place, while at the same time, thought about the lanterns. It was the best of all times. Her birthday was tomorrow and it couldn't have been better. She realized what she was feeling now was hope...hope for the bride and groom, and hope for herself.
While reading her expression, Dracula felt his smile fade. "Ericka, maybe seeing these lanterns is not such a good idea."
She felt her own smile fade. "Why?"
"I've heard what people can be like, they'll burn your clothes and beat your toes, and what if they cut your hair?"
"Drac, please, those first two sound ridiculous. I'm sure people aren't like that. Maybe I want to give them a chance, you know. I promised myself I must do this."
Dracula gave her a stern yet sympathetic look. "Trust me, it's a bad idea."
"Well, trust me when I say this!" Ericka's voice raised. "It's a good idea, and you can't break your word on this!"
No matter how many times he tried to persuade her, Ericka wanted to actually see and walk around those very same people, determined to see those floating lights. But the Count wasn't thrilled by her idea at all. He didn't want to be the one told that a human, or an ogre, had taken away the very girl who captured his heart. Yet, there was an uncomfortable truth that Dracula would have to face at some point: Rapunzel is a human, and should his friends discover her identity he could lose their trust and his sanctuary for monsters will fall. Besides, Ericka lived with her mother in a tower somewhere out in the forest. If he tried to visit Ericka, her mother would definitely try to kill him on belief he is trying to suck her daughter's blood. Like he said before, if the world was different it would be possible for him and Ericka to be together. But with the hatred on both sides of their species, there was nothing he could do about it, unless...
Dracula was on his way to the lobby when he stopped for a moment. He began to think deviously, scratching his chin in deep thought. If she wanted to see for herself that the outside world isn't safe, she would stay in the hotel forever...with him. In the back of his mind, he knew it wasn't right. But who cares? Dracula longed for Ericka. He loved her. He lusted for her.
Meanwhile in her room, Ericka had been stuck trying to decide which dress she should wear for the upcoming wedding. Because Dracula had left a large pile of fancy dresses on the bed, Ericka was faced with a problem. All of these dresses looked so beautiful in a different style, but whenever she picked one dress the other suited her interest until she picked an even prettier dress.
"That guy is spoiling you," meowed Salem, resting on the drawer close to the mirror. "First, he brushes your hair, he gives you a mountain of gowns, he gives a bouquet of black roses on your dresser, and he leaves you a big bowl of fruit for you to eat!"
"I'm sure he's just being friendly," assured Ericka, yet she wanted to keep quiet about Dracula's confession of his feelings earlier, "although I wish he would have picked only a few dresses for me to try on and see if one of them is perfect."
"By the way, I heard you two had a fight about visiting the human village to see the lanterns."
"It wasn't a fight! It was a simple disagreement." Ericka sighed. "He wants me to stay so I can watch the lanterns from a window. I'm tired of doing that! I told him earlier that he gave me his word. He will help me find the village where the people keep the lanterns, and he is like..." she then did an impersonation of the vampire, "But Ericka, darling, it's not safe. Bleh, bleh-bleh."
"It's because he likes you, that's why," explained Salem. "I've seen him like this when Martha was around. He loved her so much, he would do anything to keep her safe." Of course, little did the cat realize her words would prove to be correct.
"Do you really think Drac likes me?" Ericka asked hopefully.
"Absolutely!"
"Oh, wow." The thought of being in love with Dracula made the girl's heart flutter. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Earlier tonight I sent his father a letter to invite him to my party. I know he won't make it to the wedding but..."
Immediately, Salem pounced forward on Ericka's chest, almost knocking her to the wooden floor. "YOU INVITED HIS FATHER?!" The cat screeched.
"Yes. Is that wrong of me?" Ericka didn't understand why the cat was freaking out.
"Very wrong!" Salem hissed. "Didn't Drac tell you about how cold his father is?!"
"Well, he did say he never got along with him," said Ericka.
"You're going to be so sorry when Drac finds out you invited his father without his knowledge," Salem growled.
"I thought Drac would want to reconcile with his father after being away from him for so long." Ericka collapsed backwards on the bed, causing most of the dresses to fall to the floor. She stared up at the ceiling, nothing but guilt and fear in her eyes should the infamous vampire find out.
Out in the cold and dark mountains, a huge and ugly bat demon was checking the contents of a mailbox. There was an envelope inside. The bat demon flew back inside the dark and dank cave, and returned loyally to his master's side and handed him the envelope. The bat demon hung upside down from a stalactite near a stone throne where a figure veiled in shadows sat dignified, only his cold blue eyes could be seen glowing. The master, an extremely old vampire, opened it with his long sharp nails and read the letter, it was an invitation to Ericka's birthday party.
"Holy rabies!" Vlad smiled with a Romanian accented voice raspier than Dracula's voice, as he leaned out from the shadows to reveal an ancient looking face with pale blue skin, sharp and long features with a long nose and chin, and wisps of silver white hair, "He finally invites me to something." He read the invitation a bit more and quirked an eyebrow at something a bit surprising. "He's got a girlfriend?"
"And he never told you?!" shouted the lead bat crony by Vlad's side, the very one who brought in the letter.
"Easy, Bela," Vlad assured him and added with an interested smile, "At least he's finally considered to continue the Dracula bloodline since Martha died." He read more of the letter and grinned. "It's at a hotel, huh? Fancy-schamcy."
"HOTELS ARE FOR HUMANS!" Bela roared so loudly that he made dozens of other bat cronies to start flying around and shrieking in a frenzy.
"Bela, shut your blood hole!" Vlad angrily scolded the lead crony, "Look what you started. Don't worry, gang! I raised my son to hate, and kill, and steal the souls of humans, like a good boy."
Back to the hotel, the elevator doors opened as Dracula stepped out to walk gracefully down the hallway with a stern look on his face. As he headed for Ericka's bedroom, the shrunken heads hanging on the doorknobs all sensed someone's presence and began shouted, "Do not disturb!" as Dracula continued to walk past them.
"Good morning, Your Eminence," greeted a witch maid, smiling admiringly at her boss.
"Maid, clean up this room!" one of the shrunken heads shouted, which earned a scowl from the witch.
He stopped at Ericka's bedroom door in which the shrunken head spoke out, "Oh, it's you. Glad you could make it. She's ranting about how you won't let her go check the world out to see something about floating lights. What you going to do? What you going to say?"
"I got it covered. Just do your job." Dracula reassured the shrunken head, just as he opened the door.
Cracking the door open a bit to stick his head out, Dracula flashed a charming smile as he called for his beloved. "I'm back,Ericka, darling." He walked to the center of the room. "Have you made your choice yet?"
Ericka emerged from inside the pile of dresses, at first looking shocked to see him, but then droned out, "Not exactly. You gave me too much to choose from."
Dracula only smiled as he helped his beloved out of the dress pile, and he playfully pinched her cheek. "I'm so sorry, darling. I'll help you pick out the right dress. After that, I have so much fun planned for you and me. Whoo-hoo! We can go catch some scorpions. Just the two of us. Yes, darling?"
Ericka glanced in Salem's direction, looking very puzzled.
"What did I tell you?" Salem droned. "He likes you."
"Drac, I'm sorry, but can that wait?" Ericka backed away from the vampire's smothering affection, her back facing the Count. Her face in a serious expression as much as her voice. "There's something we have to talk about."
Dracula smiled as he answered, "You want to go out into the world to see the lanterns. You can."
"Aha! I knew you were going to say that." Ericka shouted as she whirled around. "But, Drac, you promised me that you would help me to..." But she stopped, as she let what the Count said sink in and stared at him in confusion, "Wait, what?"
"Did he just said what I think he said?" Salem asked in equal question.
"I said you can go," Dracula repeated.
Ericka, Salem, and Pascal exchanged looks as if is he serious, after all that talk of not going.
"You're just playing a joke on me, right?" Ericka figured, crossing her arms, not believing the vampire's words.
Dracula put his hands up as he shook his head. "No, no, no. I'm serious. You're old enough to drive a hearse now, you're old enough to make your own choices. And you're old enough to go out and see the lanterns. You can go."
Ericka let all this sink for about a few seconds, until she smiled excitedly, and enthusiastically gave Dracula a quick tight hug. "Oh my God! Thank you! Thank you so much!"
She then rushed into the closet, and came back out seconds later, now sporting a silken red hooded cloak with gold trimming. She picked up Pascal and stuffed him in the cloak's pocket. She zoomed past Dracula and Salem for the door, giggling in delight.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop! Wait a second,Ericka." Dracula stopped her in time, using his powers to close the door, as she turned around to face him. "Look, darling, I know you're excited to see the lanterns, but everyone's gone to great lengths to come see Frank get married. You wouldn't want to disappoint him if you missed out on it, would you? And your birthday is not until tomorrow night. Besides, you haven't seen a real human village yourself, right? How do you know if the humans there are friendly?"
The Count sensed a sadness coming from the human girl. Ericka had totally forgotten about why this night was so special. Her new friends were about to be wed and she almost skipped it by leaving. But he did prove a point at the end of his words.
"You're right. I almost forgot." Ericka slumped on the bed as she sighed. "I know I haven't seen a real village before, but...I've been in that tower for eighteen years. I really want to see new things. Maybe find out why those lanterns only appear on my birthday." She turned to the vampire, her eyes got bigger, and her lower lip quivering.
"Come on. No, no. Don't do that." Dracula pleaded. "Don't give me the pouty face." He couldn't help but admit she did it in the cutest way. Seeing her not giving up her pouty face, Dracula sighed as he pretended to give up. "Okay, there's a human village not too far from here, past the cemetery. How about I take you there and we can be back in like thirty minutes? It should be plenty for your first time. If it all works out, I will take you to the village where the lanterns appear."
"Well...it's not the village where the lanterns are..." Ericka started to brighten up at the idea. "But it's still technically out there!" She rushed back to the closet, leaving Dracula to sigh in relief at that moment.
But that caught Salem's attention. "What is he up to?" The black cat eyed the vampire suspiciously.
When Ericka came back out, her cloak was gone and she was still in her vampire garb. She gently put Pascal on the drawer, and then walked up to Dracula. To his surprise, Ericka gave him a big hug.
"Thank you, Drac. Thanks for helping me with this."
"Of course, my darling," Dracula wrapped his arms around her waist to return the hug with a smile, but then felt a little lower for some odd reason, "I gave you my word."
Just then, the door swung open as Dracula's friends, even Bianca and Sirena, came in, surprising Dracula and Ericka.
"Hi, guys!" Ericka greeted as the others said their hellos to her. "What are you all doing here?"
"Word has it that you two are smothering each other with love and affection!" teased Sirena.
"What?!" Ericka gasped. "I'm not smothering Drac! HE is the one smothering me!" She gestured to a pile of dresses and the bowl of fruit.
"I just wanted to make it up to her for getting off a bad start," Dracula explained, although half of this was true. The other half meant he was very much in love with her.
"So, you excited about tonight?" Frank asked with a smile.
"Not as excited as I am right now," Ericka grinned excitedly as she told them the good news. "You're not going to believe this, but Drac is going to take me out to see a human village for the first time!"
"WHAT?!" Everyone gasped, arguing with the vampire on what was going on.
Eunice broke through the group walking towards Ericka. "Excuse me, Drac. Have you lost it?" She brought Ericka in an awkward but sweet hug. "Letting your new girlfriend go out there with those horrible humans you're always telling us about? That's why you built this place." She let go of Ericka as she yelled, "They hate us! They're vicious! AND THEY'RE VERY LOUD!"
"And so are you," Sirena mumbled.
"Eunice, maybe they've changed since you've been inside the shadows too long," Ericka defended, "Drac and I are just going to drive down the street in a hearse and see how it goes."
"Okay, Honey. Be safe," advised Wanda. "Bring warm clothes and a sword."
"And look our for pitchforks," cautioned Griffin.
"Don't let anybody scoop your brains out either," warned Murray.
"Maybe stay in the shadows," advised Wayne, "It's more fun to observe. From under a house.
"And if any of them pull a knife or a gun at you, or your mother...Oomph!" Sirena elbowed Bianca roughly in the gut to keep her silent.
Frank shook his head as he stepped forward towards Ericka and spoke, "Guys, guys. She can handle it. And she's got Dracula to keep an eye on her, for Pete's sake."
"Thank you, Frank." Ericka smiled gratefully.
"No problem," replied Frank, but then he whispered at the last part while staring off into space, "But seriously. Watch out for fire. Fire bad."
"Uh, okay." Ericka looked a little weirded out by the last warning.
"Let us go, my dear." Dracula announced, holding the door open for her like a gentleman.
Before leaving, Ericka turned towards the others and smiled at them. She waved. "Bye, everyone. We'll be back soon." She looked at her chameleon friend. "Pascal, you stay here with Salem and be good."
Pascal saluted in obedience. Salem just yawned and stretched.
Ericka followed Dracula down the hallway to the elevator, where it took them down to the main lobby, where Dracula lead her outside through the revolving door, and a hearse stood waiting for them outside. Being the gentleman he is, Dracula opened the door for Ericka so she could get in. Then he got in from the other side of the hearse. He started the engine and the hearse was on its way.
"This is going to be so exciting! I'm going to see a real village with real people for the first time! I hope they're as friendly as the monsters." Ericka whispered in a giddy voice.
After a some long minutes, the hearse stopped at the graveyards, where the village was just a little way beyond the cemetery.
"Now, are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Dracula asked in mild concern.
"No, I'll be okay." Ericka brushed off his concerns like she knew what she was doing, while opening the door and got out of the hearse. "I'll be back soon," she said, and after slamming the door shut, Ericka began running enthusiastically through the cemetery to find the village.
But no sooner she had gone a distance, Dracula immediately opened the door and got out, then he transformed into a bat, and started flapping like crazy after Ericka. But he did his best to stay unnoticed. "This is amazing!" He heard her squeal as he spotted her silhouette illuminated in the moon's light within the cemetery, and now heading straight towards the village nearby.
Wasting no time, Dracula flew at great speed through the clearing and at last came to small hidden village within the forest. The streetlights illuminated the darkened streets, just as Dracula flew in and transformed back to his original form. The anxious Count looked around to see if the coast was clear or to make sure no one suspicious was nearby. He heard Ericka's "Whoo-hoo!" and hid himself in a dark alleyway to avoid being seen.
Ericka emerged from the bushes and peered around the mysterious town in excitement. For so long being locked away in the tower, she didn't know how big the outside world was like. And now, she was given her chance to explore it all, even if it was going to be for thirty minutes, she was going to see more of it on her birthday tomorrow. Not wasting any time, she walked further out in the street.
"Uh, hello? Anybody here?" She called out to the deserted town, but there was no answer.
Then she noticed a window display case with two beautiful dresses. She ran over to it and peeked through the glass to admire the dresses.
Suddenly, an angry villager holding a pitchfork appeared in the display case and snarled, "Vampire! Burn clothes!"
Another one appeared with him as he sneered, "Bite toes!"
Ericka stepped back, a bit startled, but she presented herself with a friendly greeting, "Oh! Hi, people."
At that moment, the lights in the street lamps turned off, all Dracula's doing to make the situation more threatening.
Ericka tried to convince the two men she meant no harm as she continued, "Uh, my name is Ericka and..."
"Vampire!" more angry villagers slinked out from another building, with torches and pitchforks, as one of them growled, "We take your candy!"
The villagers started surrounding the poor blonde girl, as she tried her best to reason with them, "Calm down, please. I'm friendly. And I'm not a vampire."
But the angry townspeople didn't seem to care, as one of the villagers brought up a huge pair of scissors. "Cut her hair! Magic hair!"
Ericka gasped, looking horrified, "Cut my hair? No!"
But among those angry faces there was a face Ericka recognized clearly.
"MOTHER?" Ericka whispered in trembling fear. How could her own mother be a part of these people, all wanting to burn her clothes, bite her toes, take her candy, and worst of all, cut her hair.
One of the townspeople tripped on his own feet and fell to the ground. His head came loose...revealing him to be a zombie, one of the hotel's staff. Dracula saw this and, in a flash and with much stealth, he scooped up the head, screwed it back on, and zoomed out of the chaos again, just as 'Gothel' grabbed Ericka's braided hair and guided it to the awaiting scissors.
"Mother, stop!" Ericka screamed, pulling her hair out of her 'mother's' grasp, and due to the disguised zombies' loud groans and yells, Dracula couldn't hear a word she said. "Why are you doing this?! Stop this, please!" she pleaded, almost on the verge of tears.
One villager stabbed one of his comrades in his head, shocking Ericka instantly and causing Dracula to face palm. The disguised zombie who got stabbed in the face, or mask, fell over and dropped his torch, setting all of the villagers ablaze. The flames caused the 'townspeople' and 'Gothel' to go aflame, creating one big bonfire.
"Oh my God!" Ericka shouted in horror at the burning villagers and her mother on fire, not even flinching in pain. "You're on fire! Can I do anything? Mother, can I help you?"
But 'Gothel' nearly shoved a pitchfork in her direction, not even caring she would almost hurt her.
As Ericka realized the harsh truth, she said out loud, "Dracula was right."
Dracula, who still hid, was able to hear her words after the yelling ceased a bit and his eyes grew wide.
Ericka's face saddened in despair, realizing her dream was thrown away into the flames by the truth, especially the truth about her mother. "Dracula was right about you." She turned and fled back into the dark forest.
A fog of violet mist swirled past the burning 'villagers' and transformed into Dracula as he watched the disappearing form of his beloved. "It worked." He smiled, and sighed in relief. "Now my beloved Ericka shall be safe...forever." His plan had worked, though not as originally planned, but he was glad as he saw the girl of his dreams run away, believing that the outside world wasn't safe, and that she would stay in his hotel forever. Hearing the groans of the 'villagers' behind him, Dracula turned and gave a serious frown. "Alright, everybody. Get back to work."
The villagers and Gothel, though still slightly aflame, took off their masks to reveal themselves to be the zombies that worked at the hotel.
Spotting one of the zombies in front of the dress shop and trying to take a mannequin with him, Dracula scolded, "Hey! You don't need a mannequin!" The zombie silently pleaded to the Count, but he was resolved, "Leave the mannequin here! C'mon!" The zombie sulked as he dropped the mannequin.
The zombies began to tear down the village, revealing it all to be hollow and empty, like the set off a movie studio. Once Dracula was assured the work would be done soon, he transformed into a bat and took off, heading back to the hearse to check up on his beautiful Ericka.
But as he did so, he failed to notice the silhouette of an ogre, having witnessed the entire episode in the shadows, and left to report to his mistress. Gothel, having told of what had happened, was both pleased and furious. Pleased that her flower had been found, but furious that her vampire enemy had set Ericka up with a plan to scare her into remaining at his hideout and to show her the true colors of the woman who reared her as her own.
"That Dracula is a fool! He thinks he can take away with is precious to me through trickery!" she snarled.
"Uh, isn't that what you did with Ericka?" questioned the shorter ogre.
"SHUT UP!" Gothel snapped, causing the ogres to draw back in fear.
The taller ogre pointed in the direction the slightly burning zombies were heading to. A hidden underground tunnel opened up within the ground and the zombies slowly trekked downhill and into the tunnel. However, one of the zombies wandered off and came face-to-face with Gothel and the ogres. At first, the ogres looked alarmed, but the zombie looked at Gothel up and down, and grinned.
"Hoooot Laaaadyyyy..." the zombie groaned with intrigue.
"Oh, stop it, you big lug." Gothel chuckled humorously, until she withdrew the dagger from her cloak and pointed it directly at the zombie's face in a threatening manner. "Where does that tunnel lead out?"
"Knife..." the zombie groaned again, this time in fear.
Dracula opened the hearse door and found Ericka, looking rather scared and distraught sitting in the car seat. "Ericka, darling..." he asked as he sat beside her, "How did it go? How was the village?"
But the only answer he was given was this. "Take me back to the hotel."
Dracula smiled in secret. It was what he wanted to hear. As he drove the hearse back to the hotel, rather quickly, Ericka stayed silent and sullen throughout the ride. Dracula glanced in her direction, wanting to say something, but he caught a glimpse of a tear on her cheek. The joy he felt for the success of his plan had faded into concern he felt for his sweetheart.
"Ericka...?" He reached out a hand to touch her own, to try and comfort her.
Ericka could no longer keep silent. "Drac, you were right! The people are awful! They were everything you said! They wanted to bite my toes, burn my clothes, take my candy, and tried to cut my hair - with scissors!"
"WHAT?!" Dracula feigned shock as he rubbed one of his arms. "Look at me, I'm so scared I'm getting goosebumps!" As he watched her gaze out the window, Dracula added, "I am so sorry you had to see all that."
Ericka wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm so sorry I doubted you," she sniffled, "I'll never leave the hotel, or so much the tower, ever again."
That last part made Dracula smile a little, secretly. "O-Okay, okay."
By the time they returned to the hotel, Dracula escorted the dismal Ericka to her room, but he decided to cheer her up a little. "Look, don't be sad. Tonight is Frankie's wedding. And tomorrow night, I'm going to give you the bestest birthday ever! As for the lanterns, we can watch them from the roof. Just the two of us."
"That sounds fine," Ericka ceased her sniffles and looked up at him with sad eyes.
"Now, you need to get dressed for the wedding, my darling," he continued in an overly sweet voice, "I have to make sure if everything is ready, but I'll be back to check up on you." He then walked toward the door, still smirking. "If your already done before I get here, you come down whenever you're ready, darling."
The Count blew a kiss in her direction, surprising Ericka yet causing her to blush. Dracula exited the room, and slowly closed the door behind him. Once that was done, he sighed in relief, knowing full well his plan had worked.
"Oooh. What did you do?" The shrunken head on the doorknob became suspicious of the Count's behavior.
"What I had to." Dracula's mood changed as he went all serious and final. The shrunken head scoffed in skepticism. But the Count reassured her, "She'll thank me one day."
"Yeah, right!" the shrunken head huffed, "That's what the guy who shrank my head said."
"What exactly did you do to make you say you had to do it?" asked a familiar voice as Dracula looked down to see a suspicious Salem and a scowling Pascal.
"None of your business!" Dracula used his powers to throw both the cat and the chameleon into a vase, and then he tied up and gagged the shrunken head to keep her quiet. Then he walked casually down the hall acting like nothing was wrong, and ignoring the muffled groans of the shrunken head.