Let's have another go at this! Wahoooo! If you guys have any questions or see any plotholes please tell me so I can fix them. Anything wrong with this story tell me and I will give an explanation or fix it! Thanks for reading.
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When Dracula awoke he came to understand the need for him to remain with Inmoon, Isobel and Lorelay to gather the last two Pillars. It would be far too much of a risk for him to go back to the Hotel. He was needed with his friends to help protect them and their mission and as much as he despised this fact there was nothing he could do about it. He was no longer interested in reminiscing and talking with his old friends and was instead solely focused on the task at hand. No one could blame him though none of them could truly understand how he felt either, none of them had created a life for themselves. None of them had fallen in love and none of them had children.
"Vlad?" Inmoon asked cautiously.
"What?" He responded coldly.
"Is there anything I can do?"
"Do not offer me comfort!" He whirled on her in a flash of bared fangs. "You do not understand my pain so shut your mouth before I rip it from your mangy body!"
With that he stalked away and took to the darkened skies leaving Inmoon standing on the ground with drooped ears and tears leaking from her eyes. She snarled angrily before running across the land in search of Viore.
The search didn't take too long and when they found him it was at the tail end of a rodeo. IT was a rowdy event to say the least. The scent of blood was heavy in the air as was the scent of cattle and sweat. The ground was a mix of dust, tossed hay and mud that stuck to their shoes as with every step they walked through the dust and the throng of shouting people to find him preparing for the wild horse races with an eager grin on his face.
Viore was shorter than Dracula but then again everyone in their group was. He was muscular and his long black hair was pulled into a braid. His skin was tanned due to his Native American heritage and he wore a pair of blue jeans, a plaid shirt, a pair of cowboy boots and a hat to match.
"Viore!" Isobel shouted happily and at the sound of his true name the man stiffened and whirled to face them.
Isobel ran and smashed into him with the force of a freight train as she strangled him in a hug. He wheezed desperately before the short woman realized and climbed off of him with a sheepish grin.
"Well, howdy to ya'll too." He drawled with a tip of his hat. "Nice to see ya'll ag'in." He grinned.
"Am ah really tone deaf?" Isobel asked sadly.
"Ya little cotton pickers! Ya'll told 'er?!" Viore hissed and grimaced before lighting up a cigarette. "No offense hun' but ya couldn't carry a tune if ya had a bucket with a lid on it."
Isobel's response was to pout childishly and he laughed and wrapped a bulky arm around her dainty shoulders.
"The gate is breaking." Dracula said.
"Well…" He said with wide eyes. "Ain't that a pickle. Jus' lemme finish this ride 'ere and I'll be on this like a duck on a june bug. I got a lot ridin' on this 'ere competition."
"Viore." Dracula snarled. "Do not test us. Either you come with us now or we kill the damn beasts, how does that sound?" His eyes turned red and his voice grew to a shout and whisper.
"Well ain't he meaner than chicken shit today." Viore muttered. "Fine. But ya'll are costin' me a pretty penny 'ere."
"If it is that important then we can compensate for your losses." Dracula growled as he turned around and began to leave.
"You an' me need ta have a talk." Viore glared up at Dracula after he caught up.
"Talking wastes time."
"Oh land o mercy! Pull yer head outta yer ass fer a few minutes and tell me what bit ya!" Viore shouted and pulled on Dracula's shoulder.
Dracula's response was a deep hiss.
"Either ya tell me what's wrong or I'll knock yer teeth in faster 'n a shot dog through a barn." Viore glared fearlessly into Dracula's blood red eyes.
"The Gate will open in my Hotel. My daughter is in my Hotel. I think that is enough of an explanation.
"Then let's git on this, but this attitude o yers stops. It's 'bout as useful as a trapdoor in a canoe right now an' ya know it. So act like ya got some raisin' and stop lashing out at us fer this."
They walked out of the rodeo in silence and once they were a good distance away Viore unfurled his flaming wings and took to the skies joined quickly by Isobel and Dracula as Lorelay and Inmoon ran beneath them. Their next destination would take them deep into the Amazon Rainforest to find their last companion and hopefully he would be lucid enough to be of use to them.
The journey did not take them long and they soon found themselves navigating the treacherous terrain of the Amazon Rainforest. Flight was useless and so they traveled by foot and removed their glamours for the time being. The only people they would run into were isolated tribes of cannibals and the scarier they looked, the better. It took them three days to find their final friend. The man was good at living without leaving a sign of his presence behind and it took a keen eye to find anything to point them in the right direction.
They overheard a pair of women talking as they washed their clothes in the river. Their conversation was about a forbidden area of the rainforest that was said to house a vengeful God. A few villagers, mostly naïve children, had wandered into the territory of this God and were never seen again. The five monsters knew that this was the sign they had been waiting for and immediately set off for the forbidden section of jungle.
Dracula had been eerily silent throughout the journey and everyone was on edge because of this. He was angry and scared and everyone did their best to accommodate him and cheer him up but nothing had really worked.
"Look bud. Come hell r high water we'll lick 'em and eve'ythin'll be fine." Viore had told him and Dracula hadn't even looked at him.
It was painful to watch Dracula shut down as he was and they tried as hard as they could to pull him out of it as they traveled deeper into Zeyphx's territory. There were more and more animals gathered together the farther they walked and as they noticed that they knew that they had made the right choice. The animals watched them warily as they moved deeper and deeper into the jungle but none dared to attack them. The creatures of the earth could sense the power that they wielded and gave them the respect that power demanded.
It was on their third day of searching through the Rainforest that they found him. The five were walking through the thick underbrush when they heard a low whisper and moved toward it. They found Zeyphx kneeling beside the river with his back facing them.
"They taste like lady fingers." He whispered lowly.
"Zeyphx?" Dracula called out gently.
"No!" The man hissed. "No, no listening. We see and we taste. No listening now." He muttered through a full mouth.
"He's not lucid." Dracula sighed.
"Let me talk te him." Isobel said and cautiously made her way over.
Lorelay leaned against Viore, seeking comfort from the painful scene before them. Inmoon grasped Dracula's hand tightly and he returned her grip as he watched Isobel approach their friend.
"Zeyphx." She called out. "Ye aren't lucid." She approached slowly.
"Shhhh. No listening. We need to see."
"Zeyphx, we need ye ta come back te us." She said. "Ye aren't grounded. Ground yerself. Ye need te see more than what ye are right now. Come back te us."
She reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder and he froze. She leaned over and looked at what he was holding to see a small human hand. It had been gnawed upon and teeth marks ground deeply into the bone beneath severed tendons that hung down and swayed with Zeyphx's rhythmic rocking. He looked up at her with dead eyes and blood dribbling down his chin. Strips of flesh were tangled between his teeth and he worked his tongue over them.
"Grounded. Yes. We see too much now. See less."
"There ya go. See less. Et's alright. Come back now. Et's time te come back."
His eyes slowly came back to life and returned to bright hues of swirling green. He shook his head back and forth before looking to the tiny hand in his grip and dropping it with a startled yell. He recoiled from the severed limb as it drifted farther into the deep waters and drifted down stream. Zeyphx tangled a bloody hand in his black mangled beard and turned to face everyone with wide frightened eyes.
"We are sorry." He said quietly.
"It's okay Zeyphx." Dracula said gently. "But we need to go."
"We know." The scraggly black man responded. "We have seen." He gestured to his own eyes. "To your Hotel. Quickly now!" He took off at a run through the rainforest and all anyone could do was shake their heads and follow after their friend.
"Think he'll be able to decipher his own visions enough to help?" Inmoon whispered as she squeezed Dracula's hand.
"I don't know." He responded as he gazed at their intertwined hands with the realization of what they were doing. "I hope so." He said with a small grin as he comfortingly tightened his grip on her hand.
He looked ahead of them and smiled wider as he saw Zeyphx and Isobel zipping all over creation and laughing as they traded jokes. He saw Lorelay continuing to lean against Viore's sturdy frame and happiness returned to him in those moments. He was once again surrounded by the friends that he had missed so much. When he was with those five people he was home. It didn't matter if he was in Alaska, Japan, or Russia if they were with him he was home and it was good to finally be home again.
It didn't take them long to get to an airport and board a plane that would take them back to Romania. The trip couldn't have been longer for Dracula.
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I have to say that I had SO much fun writing Viore's lines. Takes me back. Yes I did just pull those out of my ass. I miss the south and I vow that I will return someday! Hope you guys enjoyed. Review and let me know what you thought please!