Okay! Here we go with the final chapter of this story. I'm so very happy that we have finally reached the end. I've been working on this since 2013 and my updates have been the opposite of regulated. Sorry about that but hey, at least you guys stuck around with me through it all. Thank you SO MUCH for reading! Here we go and I sincerely hope that you enjoyed the story.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Hotel Transylvania or any of the character contained therein. I do not own the Vours. I DO own the OCs and the plot-line.
The minutes stretched on and the screaming only grew louder despite the blood bubbling up from within the lungs of the Pillars, from Dracula. The only way that Mavis could take the screaming was to scream even louder herself. She bled out all of her fear and rage through her voice and she continued to scream long after her throat had begun to protest.
There was so much blood and it covered the ground beneath her father, splattered along the walls, and dripped from his flesh like rain. How could so much blood come from six people? How were they still standing? How were they still screaming? How long was this torture going to continue, but more importantly when this was all over would she even have a father anymore?
The Pillars were barely recognizable as people anymore. Their flesh had burnt, bubbled, and melted away in chunks and despite their healing power trying so very hard, they were screaming piles of mutilated flesh that just kept burning.
Dracula's friends did everything in their power to help by darting around the room and protecting the Pillars from the Vours. There were so many of the wretched creatures that they could barely see each other in the room and more kept pouring in. They did well though and very few made it through to inflict more harm upon the Pillars.
Then, everything changed in the blink of an eye as the Elements themselves, bound to flesh and bone, lost the power to distance themselves and the pain broke through.
They began to scream as well. A terrible horrible scream of agony that filled the minds and hearts of all. Their screaming stretched around the world and no matter how far the person was, they still felt in their hearts that something was terribly wrong. The inhabitants of the world felt the phantom pains of the Elements that night and, for a few brief moments, were all united in their shared, inexplicable, grief.
For those within the room, the screaming of the Elements was unbearable but one cannot escape a voice within their own heads. They fell to the floor, covering their ears and writhing in pain and the Vours swooped forward and attacked the Pillars. They formed a dark whirlwind and tore at the Pillars like a swarm of piranha. Blood, flesh, and even bone scattered throughout the room as the Vours crowed in victory but their cries were issued too soon.
Mere moments after they had swarmed the rift sealed. It clapped shut and formed a bright sphere of swirling energy that sucked in everything not tied down. Vour after Vour tumbled in and was torn apart in the torrent of energy. Tables, chairs, books, candles and everything that couldn't hold on for itself fell into the overload of power that was quickly balancing itself out. The sphere vanished and for a few seconds took everything with it, the room was devoid of light and sound and the only thing left behind was a building pressure before a mighty boom vibrated the castle. The sphere exploded, distributing energy back into the world in a blinding flash and knocking everyone back with the sheer force of it. Glass littered the floor and the Vours that remained quickly retreated into the darkness of the night, to remain in our world until the day the Pillars hunted down every last one of their kind and cast them back into the dark chasm from which they came.
They left behind a hotel in which nothing moved and not a sound was made in the darkness of Sorry Night.
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A few hours had passed before Mavis began to stir. Her eyes fluttered open and her vampiric gaze easily pierced the veil of the night. She rose on shaky limbs and shot to her feet as the memories of the night's battle surged through her mind. She found Johnny in a heartbeat and rushed to his side to find him breathing and well aside from a few nasty bruises. He came around rather quickly along with Frank, Murray, Griffin, and Wayne.
As she heard the movement around her and saw everyone waking up she focused her energy like her father had taught her and relight the lamps and torches that were still standing. The room lit and everyone saw what remained of the Pillars. They lay in a pool of their own blood as their flesh slowly knitted itself back together. Mavis gasped and rushed over to where her father lay. She knelt in the crimson pool, ignoring the cold and sticky sensation as her dress soaked through.
She reached down and cradled his healing body to her chest as she cried. He was healing though, she could see it and that meant that he would be fine. They all would, because they were all healing and once they were recovered Mavis would get her answers, all of them. At this point she didn't even care about getting answers, all she wanted was her father safe and sound.
She heard what sounded like a stampede running through the halls. She looked up from her father's blood smeared face to see a group of monsters rushing through the door only to stop dead in their tracks upon seeing the horror show that lay within. Mavis locked eyes with Ruthaven who ran forward with a cry of despair.
"Dracula! Dracula!? VLAD?!" He screamed as he fell to his knees beside Mavis and Dracula.
"Wayne? Wayne what happened?!" Wanda wailed as she ran into the embrace of her husband.
"It's a long story honey." He whispered as he tentatively crept toward his old friend.
"Come on Vlad!" Ruthaven growled. "Come on! Wake up! You can come back from this. I know you can! You've come back from everything else, don't you dare give up now!"
"Stop yellin'" A thickly accented voice rasped.
"Viore!" Ruthaven gasped. "Are you well?!"
"Aw Ah feel 'bout as good as the canary the cat got." He mumbled.
"You're cold!" Ruthaven yelled in shock as he helped Viore to his feet.
"Yea an I dun like it." Viore groaned.
All around them the Pillars began to stir and Mavis nearly cried with relief as her father opened his eyes and gazed up at her.
"Mavis." He whispered with a weak smile. "You're okay. I was so worried."
"That is just like you." Frank groaned as he held back tears. "You about died,I think, and you're worried about everyone else."
Dracula chuckled weakly as he got to his feet and shared a long, sad look with the other Pillars as they wobbled on their feet.
"It worked?" Dracula rasped.
"It did man. You did it." Wayne said as he held his wife in a firm embrace.
Laughter bubbled up around the group as Eunice ran into Frank's arms and Johnny hugged Mavis with every ounce of strength he had left. Ruthaven grinned and laughed in both joy and relief as he beheld the sheer amount of destruction all around the room.
"We were all locked outside when that black shadow covered every entrance. Even the secret passageways!" He yelled. "No one could get inside!"
"They didn't want us getting out." Inmoon answered in a tired voice.
"No one coming in to help us either." Lorelay added as she trembled on unsteady feet.
"The point is you won! We won! We won and everyone is okay!" Mavis laughed as she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around her father.
Dracula returned her embrace weakly with a serene smile decorating his face. The embrace lasted a few blissful seconds before Mavis' eyes snapped open and she looked up at her father in shock.
"Dad…..you're not breathing!" She sobbed and his face fell.
Jonathan leaped forward and pressed a hand to Dracula's chest with wide eyes.
"No….no heartbeat either. Drac?" Johnny looked up with wide tear filled eyes.
"I was hoping to keep everyone happy for a little longer." He grimaced sadly.
"Dad….dad what's wrong?" Mavis sobbed.
"It was too much Mavy." He rasped in return. "I've got nothing left. No blood, no energy. I used the last of it to heal my body but that isn't enough. I…..we only have a few minutes left, maybe less." He whispered weakly while gesturing to the others behind him.
"After all this you're going to die?!" Mavis screamed.
"Not die…." Dracula whispered. "Petrify."
"No." Ruthaven muttered. "NO!" He yelled.
"I'm sorry." Dracula groaned. "I can't last any longer."
"Drac come on! You can last. Someone hurry get him some blood substitute!" Johnny screamed.
"I need human blood…...more than you can give Johnny." He finished as Johnny began to roll up his sleeve.
His friends began to shout and panic and every tear was like a dagger to his already shattered heart. He could feel the cold in his flesh turning to numbness and he turned to see stone infecting the flesh of the Pillars. He looked down at himself and saw the same.
"I'm scared." He thought to himself. "I don't want this. Please….there has to be something. Don't let me petrify."
He began to panic and then he saw his daughter's face, the terror, the sheer unadulterated despair and he knew what he had to do. For her.
"Dad...no. Please no. Not you too." She cried.
"Sweet Fangs...shhhhh." He soothed as he reached a hand out and wiped her tears away with his thumb. "It'll be okay."
"Please." She sobbed gripping his hand to her cheek tightly.
"Take care of her." Dracula said to Johnny as his body slowly turned to stone.
Johnny nodded, jaw clenched and fists bunched.
"I love you Mavis. Everything will be fine baby claws. Trust me." He smiled and that was the last thing he did before he petrified completely.
Mavis broke down wailing and sobbing, tears falling onto her father's cold, stone hand.
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"It's not the end." Ruthaven said as he stood behind Mavis.
It had been three days and she had refused to leave her father's side. Johnny could at least convince her to eat, but leaving that room or even sleep was out of the question. She had left once and only once, to open the safe room and free the monsters inside with the blood of a Dracula.
The only Dracula left in the world.
"He's petrified. Not dead." He said. "I...don't even think he can die."
"How do you know?" She whispered through tears.
"I've seen it before. Never to him but….same principle." He shrugged.
"How do you know about petrification?" She growled.
"I am sworn to keep my Lord's secrets." Ruthaven responded, back straight as an arrow.
He looked like a soldier.
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Three months. It had been three long months and they had gathered very little information despite how hard Griffin had been working. He had only sorted through an eighth of Dracula's vast library, filled with information gathered throughout the ages. Johnathan had been scouring the world for any books that could possibly offer any help. Thanks to Dracula's immense fortune, gathered throughout his long lifespan, there was no price too steep.
Three months and they had jack squat for information other than a few old legends that held remarkable similarity to one or all of the Pillars. Griffin was working himself to the bone but he refused to give in. He would go for days without sleeping before finally crashing and repeating the process all over again. He was ready to throw the biggest bitch fit the world had ever seen.
Jonathan's friends had gotten out unscathed and filmed the results of the battle that had taken place that night. The documentary had been released and they had made a pretty penny but that no longer mattered to them. Mavis had taken her father's place as manager of the hotel and now Queen of monsters. She had opened the doors to humans, as was in her father's plan, and the Hotel had been nearly overrun by news groups from every corner of the world.
She had grown so very tired of all the interviews and all the condolences from people who hadn't even known they existed until the past few months. It angered her seeing all of these people, all of these humans who knew nothing of her father treating him like some kind of freak show. They all wanted pictures of the petrified Pillars.
It was disgusting.
Oh, there were a few who showed the proper respect that Dracula, that all of them deserved and she liked those people.
She spent a lot of time with her father, when she missed him she would simply press her cheek to his stone hand. It wasn't much, but it did help and she, they, needed all of the help that they could get.
She had to trust Griffin though. He was working hard and would continue to work hard until a solution was found. Ruthaven had assured them that it could be done. The Pillars had come out of petrification before, but it had taken centuries. They needed to speed up the process somehow and, again, Ruthaven insisted that it could be done but that he didn't know how.
Ruthaven was keeping secrets and after all of this, Mavis was sick of secrets.
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We have now reached the end of the first story arc. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME?! I already know how this is going to pan out and will work on it quickly. THERE WILL BE A CONTINUATION! Thanks for sticking with me even though I felt the story got pretty boring at times and thanks SO MUCH for all of your wonderful, wonderful reviews. I should get the first chapter up of the next story in the next few weeks. Not planning as much angst in the next one! Again THANK YOU ALL! See you in the sequel!
*hides in bunker*