Chapter 20
King Frederic and Queen Ariana were in the library, the queen silently reading a book while the king had been gazing out the window lost in his own thoughts, when suddenly the door flew open. The guard had a bewildered look on his face. He told them instantly of what the King and Queen were not expecting to hear; their lost princess had returned at last.
Rushing to the balcony entrance, the king and queen threw open the doors. To their surprise, there stood a group of strange-looking monsters. Two golem, an overweight mummy, a werewolf and his young child, a pair of floating glasses, and two vampires; both of them wore large, wide, man-brimmed hats to protect them from the sun. The monsters, hearing the king and queen walk out, slowly parted to reveal their long lost daughter.
Upon seeing the Queen's face, Ericka knew instantly that she was certainly her mother. She had the same emerald green eyes and her hair the exact same shade of brown. Slowly, Queen Ariana approached her daughter. She slid a hand underneath Ericka's chin, smiling tearfully. Ericka gasped quietly as she gazed into the loving, gentle eyes of her real mother. And then she embraced Ericka, smoothing down her hair.
In her mother's embrace, Ericka smiled tearfully at her father. King Frederic cried in his own happy tears with a deep chuckle as he enveloped both his wife and daughter in a tender bear hug, sinking down with them to the balcony floor.
The monsters sighed happily as they watched this truly heartfelt reunion between a daughter and her parents. Queen Ariana held out a grateful hand to Dracula, who at first expected it to be a handshake. Instead the queen pulled the vampire down into the hug. Thought momentarily surprised, Dracula sank deep into the family hug.
Not wanting to feel left out, the rest of the Drac Pack gathered around to join the family. Vlad hesitated, but after Dracula extended his hand out to his father, the elder took him and got pulled into the hug. Pretty soon Vlad felt like the happiest vampire in the world to feel the love and acceptance of a family.
"Well, you can imagine what happened next..." Dracula narrated, "The entire kingdom rejoiced - for their lost princess had returned. The part lasted a week and, honestly, I don't remember most of it."
The entire village was filled with happy, cheering, and dancing villagers all celebrating the return of their lost princess. Surprisingly, even the monsters had come out of the shadows to join the celebration when it turns out the people in Corona like them, especially when the humans began dressing in outrageous and colorful monster costumes.
"But, I felt terrible for my mistakes so I confessed what I had done to her parents to keep my wonderful Ericka all to myself because I knew I would always protect her. But I told them I realized now she needs to discover things for herself. She might stumble and fall, laugh and cry, but such is life. The truth is Ericka and I were meant to be. We zinged. And if I must give my trust to someone else, I'm thankful that it is her. I expected them to banish or execute me, but instead they forgave me because it was only because not only did I return her and rescued her. It's because I loved her and I didn't want to be alone so I tricked her into staying with me, and they understood."
On the balcony, Dracula told the entire story to the king and queen. He could see their reactions were silent shock without saying a word. The vampire slumped his shoulders, his head hung low, waiting for the consequences of his actions. However, Ericka smiled at his heartfelt apology and gave him a quick peck on the cheek to show her acceptance of his apology. Looking up at her parents, the king and queen nodded to show they accepted his apology. With a relieved sigh, Dracula leaned his head against Ericka's shoulder tenderly.
"The king and queen declared my kind as their friends and allies forever. After peace was made between the human world and monster world, my friends surprisingly went on to do weird if great things. Frank wrote a best selling book called 'Pieces of Me' and Eunice had twins, a boy and girl and started up a fashion company for humans and monsters."
Frankenstein is signing autographs for his human and monster fans on the pages of his books and Eunice and her twins cuts a red ribbon to declare her fashion company open to a cheering crowd.
"Speaking of fashion, Murray finally won the heart of Cleopatra after much flirting at the celebration and he went on to be a fashion show judge. Sirena and Bianca, well, they found their calling."
Murray sits beside Cleopatra as he examines the fashion designs worn by the contestants at the fashion show, who turn out to be Sirena in a scaly and seaweed mix combined to look like a dress, and Bianca in a lavender bikini, to which Sirena frowns because it looked too revealing on Bianca.
"Not much changed for poor Wayne, even then his rowdy kids overwhelmed him. But he soon became a sports coach, even though he has a problem with catching and burying balls. Wanda, meanwhile, became a children's activity instructor for a school in the town."
Wayne is demonstrating his tennis skills by chasing after a tennis ball in the court like a dog and catches it, than digs up a hole to drop the ball in and buries it. Wanda has become a children's activity instructor since she adores kids, especially her own little ones who never change.
"And Griffin, he claims he met an invisible girl named Crystal at the party and had a zing. We all thought he was trying to pull a ruse on us because he was always the one without a girlfriend. Turns out she was real. Go figure. And they married a few months later."
Griffin danced alone for a few minutes but then bumped into somebody behind him and gasped. It was a real invisible woman, and it was another zing as hearts danced between them. Griffin began doing a waltz with her.
"Thanks to Salem and Maximum , rodent problem in the kingdom disappeared almost overnight... as did most of the apples and fish. And Pascal, well, he never changed."
Salem is calmly licking her paws when a mouse tries to sneak past her, then she goes into attack mode and immediately chases off the rodent thanks to her special shadow abilities. But upon her return she manages to steal a fish from the market so she can eat it for later. Pascal is given a piece of orange fruit from a group of four little girls and immediately changes to an orange-yellow color the second he eats it.
"At last, Ericka had come home. And she finally had a real family. She was a princess worth waiting for. Beloved by all, she led her kingdom with the same grace and wisdom as her parents did before her. And, as for me, well, I continued to run my hotel and started allowing human guests in my castle... and my father and I grew closer after we made amends."
Ericka delicately placed a flower in a little girl's hair, then turns to find her parents waiting to hand her a beautiful golden crown with jewels. The crown fit her head as if it had been made for her. She embraced her parents, grateful for their gift, before they all started watching Vlad and Dracula doing a shimmy together in perfect sync.
"But I know what the big question is. Did Ericka and I ever get married?"
Afterward, Ericka and Dracula shared a romantic waltz together on the dance floor. After lowering her into a dip, Ericka tilted her head up for a kiss and Dracula gladly bent down to accept her offer.
"Well, I'm pleased to tell you that after days of asking and asking and asking... I finally said yes to have her as my wife."
The second Dracula and Ericka kiss, the scene changes to a wedding ceremony where monsters and humans broke out in applause for the newly married couple; Dracula and Rapunzel. Her parents applauded with happy tears. Pascal and Salem sat beside them, applauding as well. Dracula's friends, their wives and girlfriends, including Sirena and Bianca were the bridesmaids and groomsmen, with Frank as the best man and Eunice as the maid of honor, and little Winnie as the flower girl.
"Dracula!" Ericka's voice interrupted, knowing too well Dracula had made that last part up.
"Okay, okay, heh-heh." Dracula chuckled in defeat. "I finally asked her to marry me, and the wedding was perfect, just like a fairy tale wedding should be."
"And we lived happily ever after," finished Ericka. "The End."
Dracula smiled at the two little girls, twin sisters, whom clapped their tiny hands and cheered loudly when their parents' story had recently finished.
"That's our favorite story, Daddy," cheered Aurora, a sweet cherub faced little girl with long rich brown hair in a low ponytail and emerald green eyes, and she wore a pink nightdress.
"Tell it again, please, Daddy?" begged her sister Luna, a pale faced but equally sweet girl with short smooth raven black hair with widow's peak bangs and sapphire blue eyes, and when she smiled there were two tiny fangs, and she wore a blue nightdress.
"No, girls, it's time for bed," Ericka spoke with a gentle motherly tone. "You can hear it again tomorrow." Her brown hair had gotten longer over the years reaching her bosom, but not quite as long as her usual blonde hair.
"Aww," the twins groaned.
"Cheer up, girls," Dracula added, who spoke in an affectionate fatherly voice. "If you get to bed quickly, I'll make you wormcakes for breakfast!"
The loving parents, with the help of Pascal and Salem, gentle tucked the twins into bed and gave them goodnight kisses. After that, the couple made their way to their own chambers, formerly only Dracula's chambers, and cuddled up together in their luxurious bed.
"Sweet dreams, my beloved," Dracula cooed sweetly while he kissed Ericka passionately.
"Sweet dreams, my honeybat," Ericka whispered with equal sweetness as she returned the kiss, and they soon drifted off to a peaceful slumber.