The Tour
As Susan introduced herself to the Count she felt her heart doing things that it hadn't done in the longest time. Not since Derek had she felt the way that she felt right now. Since Derek? her mind screamed at her, Shouldn't that tell you something? Besides, this is Count Dracula! You know what the stories say that he's like, what he can do! Get ahold of yourself!
Her friends, who had apparently been stunned by the revelation of the Hotel manager's name, snap out of it as Dr. Cockroach says excitedly, "Dracula? You're the Count Dracula?"
Link, who's trying to maintain a veneer of cool calmness, says, "Name's Link, I'm a big fan of your work. Not that I've ever actually seen your work, mind you, but I've read all the stories, and even managed to watch a couple of movies when I'm not too busy saving the world"
"Ugh! The movies, don't even get me started on the movies!" Drac says in a disgusted tone, "Because of them, everybody thinks I say, 'bleh bleh bleh'!"
Dr. Cockroach, who apparently calmed himself down some, decided to try and impress the Count as he said, "Actually, I blame Bela Lugosi's portrayal of you for that misconception. The name's Dr. Cockroach, PHD."
"Hi, I'm BOB," Bob introduced himself, "I just love your costume! That cape and those fangs; why, you look just like the real Dracula!"
Drac, looking exasperated, said blandly, "I am the real Dracula."
"That accent's excellent too!" Bob said, apparently not paying attention, "Say, is there a costume party later, cause I think that guy dressed as Frankenstein may give you a run for your money. Say, I should go find me a costume too!"
As BOB slinks off towards the hotel doors, laughing in delight, Susan apologized, "Don't mind Bob, everyone. Because he has no brain, he's not that smart."
What are you doing? Her mind yelled at her again, You know who he is! Even if 90% of the stories about him are made up, everything about this guy screams "total player"! Besides you have a job to do, so get back to it!
"Well," Susan started, feeling somewhat disappointed, "I'm glad we were able to get your friends here safely, but we should get going now." Susan then hollered over to BOB, "Come on, BOB, let's go!"
"Aww," BOB complained as he turned around and headed back in the other direction, "I wanted to see the costume party."
"Please, my friends," Drac pleaded, "you must allow me to thank you properly for saving Wayne and his family. I'm sure you're exhausted, and it's getting late, so allow me to treat you to a couple of nights at the hotel, on the house."
"Wow!" exclaimed Dr. Cockroach, "It's been too long since I've stayed at a hotel!"
"Heck, I've never stayed at one!" remarked Link, "What do you say, Susan?"
"Yeah, Pleeeasssse?" begged BOB, "I wanna go see the costume party!"
"Well," Susan conceded, "Maybe one night wouldn't hurt."
"Yayy!" BOB cheered.
As Susan started to follow, she heard her inner-ear communicator go off and the static-filled voice of General W. Monger say, "This is Monger contacting Ginormica, can you read? Over."
"Just a minute," Susan whispered to Drac, then she fingered the communicator in her right ear and said, "This is Ginormica, I read you. Over."
"I'm unable to determine your location," Monger stated, "What's your status?"
Ginormica replied, "We encountered a probe droid at coordinates 46.249 by 22.298 and destroyed it, then evacuated a civilian family who happened to be in the area and got them to a hotel they were staying at, since their vehicle was destroyed. You may want to send a clean-up crew over there before any busybody civilians come around, it's a bit of a mess over there."
"Aww, Ginormica," Monger said, sounding disappointed, "couldn't you leave this one more or less intact? So far, the only things I have at the farm is a bunch of useless scrap!"
"The family was in danger," Ginormica answered, "There was no time for subtlety."
Monger sighed, then said "Very well, radio your coordinates and I'll rendezvous with you to discuss the next point of attack."
She looked at the GPS locator that was sewn into the material of the sleeve of her outfit. Even though the picture was fuzzy, she was able to see the coordinates.
Just tell him, her mind said. Instead, Susan exaggerated, "Sorry sir but there seems to be something in the area that's interfering with my GPS. I'm unable to make out a location."
"In that case," Monger said, "I'll radio you my location and…"
"With all due respect, sir," Ginormica interrupted, "we've been doing the same thing over and over again and it's been getting us nowhere. I do believe that a change in tactics is in order."
"What did you have in mind?" Monger asked.
"I believe that the attacks that have been carried out by the aliens were designed to determine our strengths and weaknesses. Thus far, All we've been doing is attacking them head on, which I feel only serves to help them towards those ends," Ginormica explains, "I think it's time we got some info on them for a change. If you have your intelligence operatives observe the droids and their masters rather than having us attacking them from the start, then we may be able to learn what their ultimate plans are, and we'd be better able to put a stop to them for good."
"And what if they were to attack a civilian population?" Monger asked.
"If they're in danger of doing so," Ginormica stated, "then you can inform us and we'll be there to stop them, as always."
"Very well then," Monger conceded, "I'll trust your judgment on this. We'll observe and report. Maintain radio contact and be ready to move on a moment's notice. Monger out."
Susan fingered the disconnect on her communicator then turned to her friends, who are staring at her anxiously, and said, "We can stay."
As her friends cheered and headed towards the hotel along with Drac's friends, Drac asked Susan, "Your GPS seemed to be working well enough, why didn't you tell him where you are?"
Susan hesitated for a moment before saying, "I have my reasons. Monger may eat, breathe and live for fighting aliens, but the rest of us have personal lives too."
Drac smiled, as if this answer satisfied him, then gestured for her to follow as he headed towards the hotel.
As she smiled and nodded, her mind grunted in disgust, Ugh, you're hopeless, girl! to which she sighed in response, I know. Then Susan, along with the raven haired girl and the red haired boy with the backpack, followed Drac into the hotel.
As Drac led Susan into the hotel, he proudly announced, "Welcome, my friends, to Hotel Transylvania!"
As the newcomers looked around in wonder, Drac felt a special glow at the look of wonderment and delight that was on Susan's face as she took it all in. "Established in 1898," Drac said, continuing his description, "this place was created to be a safe haven during the dark days, when humans hunted us monsters down just for being what we are. Now days, it serves as a getaway location, where monsters from all walks of life can relax and just be themselves."
"Wow!" Susan said as she looked around, "This place is so elegant!"
"So many monsters just walking about! I've never seen anything like it before in my life!" Dr. Cockroach said.
"Really?" Drac said, "Where have you been?"
"Mostly defending the planet from alien invasions," Dr. Cockroach answered, "Before that, a cell."
"A 'cell'?" Drac asked.
Before Dr. Cockroach could explain, Susan rushed over in front of him and interjected, "I wouldn't try to figure out the Doc's 'mad scientist' speech. I've worked with him for 2 years, and my attempts to do so had resulted in more than a few blown blood vessels in my brain." She then whispered over her shoulder to the Doc, "Ixnay on the ell-cay!"
Drac raised his eyebrows questioningly, and he saw that Jonathan also had his eyebrows raised, likely just as confused as to what Susan just said as he himself was. Before Drac could ask Susan what language she was speaking in, their blob friend, BOB, hollered from the 2nd floor landing, "This place is great! So when's the costume party starting?"
Feeling the beginning of a headache coming on, Drac was about to try again to explain to the brainless blob that they weren't wearing costumes when Johnny spoke up and said thoughtfully, "Say, that isn't a bad idea!"
"Excuse me?" Drac asked.
"I mean for as a theme for Mavis' birthday party," Johnny explained. When Drac still looked confused, Johnny continued, "Just hear me out: Whenever you have these parties, everyone dresses up but comes as themselves, right?" When Drac nodded, Johnny continued, "Well, that causes everyone to behave in a certain way, because they put certain constraints on themselves, on the way they believe they're supposed to present themselves. But at a costume party, that all changes. Because they're not coming as themselves, but rather as someone else, they can feel free to let their hair down, to relax and just have fun. Remember when we were planning Mavis' last birthday party, and I pretended to be you while you pretended to be Wayne?"
"You what now?" Wayne asked Drac as he cracked up at the memory.
Drac waved him off as he wiped tears of mirth from his eyes. "Okay, Jonathan," Drac conceded, "point taken, but I'd have to run the idea by the guests: see what they'd like to come as, find out if any of them would need anything for their costumes, then we'd have to get them somehow."
"You know, the Monster Festival is in town this week," Johnny suggested, "Perhaps once you have your list, you could go down there and ask if they'll lend you anything off it from their spares?"
"That reminds me," Wane said, "before our harrowing ordeal we had swung by the town and the Festival-goers were wondering if we could make an appearance later."
"Sounds like an idea," Drac agreed, "Once I've talked to everyone and gotten their ideas, then I'll head down to the town and ask if they have anything to spare from the list; then, if you're up for it, my friends, I'll let them know that we'll be down after the party to show them what we came up with."
"Sure!" agreed Wayne.
"Sounds like a blast!" Murray seconded.
"Yeah, that'd be fun!" Frank said.
"Frank!" Eunice's grating voice echoed down the hall, "Are you going to help me unpack or what?"
Frank cringes as he responds, "Coming dear!" then he turns to the others and says apologetically, "I gotta go. Wayne, Wanda, glad you guys made it here okay."
As Frank hurries to his room, Drac turns to Susan and the others and says, "While he's helping his wife get settled, why don't I give you guys a quick tour?"
When they get to the outdoor pool, Drac says, "…and here we have our pool. On Friday evenings we have our outdoor buffet here, where guests can create a tasty dish from a wide variety of monstrous options, and then enjoy it under the st…"
"What?!" Eunice's distressed voice interrupts as it echoes from within the hotel, "Why didn't you mention that to me sooner, Frank?!"
Uh-oh! Drac thought. Sensing what was going to happen, Wanda hands off the three youngest pups to Wayne as the sound of Eunice thundering through the halls grew steadily louder. Then she burst through the pool's doors and wrapped Wanda in a crushing embrace as she said, "Oh Wanda, I'm so sorry to hear what had happened! Are you and the pups okay? Who attacked you? Was it humans?"
As she gently extricated herself from her friend's hug, Wanda said, "It's okay Eunice, we're all just fine, although I can't say the same for our luggage. And i…"
"And you!" Eunice yelled as she turned on Drac. As he recoiled under her withering glare, Drac saw Eunice wrap his daughter in a protective embrace as she asked scornfully, "What did you think you were doing? Did you want to be barbecued by the sun? Were you trying to leave your only daughter an orphan?"
Drac cringed under Eunice's tirade. Just what had Frank told her about what happened?
As Susan looked at Mavis in confusion, she asked, "You are Dracula's….daughter?"
Eunice then let go of Mavis and placed her hands on her hips as she said, "She is, and who would you be?"
Wanda then interposed herself between Eunice and Susan as she explained, "Eunice, this is Ginormica. She's the one who saved us from the alien probe."
" 'Ginormica' huh?" Eunice asked skeptically, "She doesn't look so ginormic to me."
Susan smiled slightly, then backed up a couple of steps, concentrated, then the patterns in her suit glowed and she grew to over 49 feet in height, startling Eunice and what few guests were in the pool at the time. "How about now?" Susan asked Eunice, a hint of a laugh in her voice.
"Wow," Eunice exclaims, "aren't you full of surprises?" As Susan returns to human size, Eunice asks her, "But Wanda said that they were attacked by an alien probe? But why would it do that?"
"I'm not too certain," Susan said, "But I believe that the droid's sensors mistook Wanda's family for us."
"Well whatever the reason, you saved my friend and for that I'm grateful," Eunice said as she wrapped Susan in a crushing hug which had her wheezing out, "Easy now!" Once Susan was released and she was able to catch her breath, she explained, "Sorry, but I'm not as indestructible in this form."
At that statement, everyone laughed and the tour continued.
Later, after Drac had shown them the major areas of the Hotel, he showed them to the rooms that he was offering them.
"…so if any of you should happen to need anything, please feel free to call using the phone in your room," Drac explained.
"Thanks," Link said.
"You're quite the gentleman," Dr. Cockroach complemented.
"Oh boy!" BOB exclaimed as he rushed into his own room.
"Uh," Susan said uneasily, "you may want to disable the phone in BOB's room."
Drac considered what Susan suggested, then turned to a suit of armor and ordered, "Do it!" to which the armor replied, "Yes sir!" Seconds later, a clanging sound is heard from within BOB's room followed by the sound of something being crushed, to which BOB's voice is heard saying, "Hey! …Aww!"
As Susan chuckled, Drac bowed and said smiling, "Sleep well, Susan."
"Thanks, Drac," Susan replied as she turned and headed for her own room, then she turned and smiled as she shut her door.
As Drac headed back up the hall and went over a mental list of who would be up at this time that he could talk to about the costume party idea, he couldn't help but think about his strange reaction to this Susan/Ginormica character. Why had he felt nearly panicked when she'd announced that they had to leave? He's had guests come and go before, but he'd never felt like that when it came time for the latter.
And why did he go so far out of his way to make her feel welcome? He'd always made sure that his guests were happy, doing things like having one of the armors show a guest the way to somewhere they needed to go, but he never personally gave anyone other than his close friends a tour.
He thought back to when he saw her clearly for the first time. When he saw her face, it felt almost like….but no, that was impossible. Better than almost anyone, he himself knew that you only Zing once in your life, and he already had his Zing with Martha. And even though this woman had a strange gentle kindness despite her obvious strength, she was definitely not Martha. It's simply gratitude for her heroic actions that I'm feeling, Drac decided as he started to talk to one of the guests about Mavis' party, that's all it is.
As Susan laid on the bed, which was much more comfortable than her cot back at Area 50-something, she found herself unable to sleep. Her thoughts seemed to be tumbling out of control, thoughts of Drac and how he made her feel.
She didn't know why she couldn't get him out of her head. She'd had other guys hit on her since she'd first saved the world and made her break-up with that jerk Derek official, but she'd never had any problem blowing any of them off before.
But Drac hadn't hit on her, unless you consider his complimenting her name that. He was simply nice to her, but that was all it took for him to get a hook in her that she almost didn't want to have removed.
Susan had just decided to call Butterflysaurus, feeling that a flight through the cool night air might help clear her head, when there was a knock on the door to her room. Quickly running her fingers through her hair, she opened the door to see the curly red-haired young man standing there. "Oh, hi!" Susan said in surprise, "It's Jonathan, right? You know, you didn't have to go along with BOB's costume party belief. We probably won't be here long enough for him to realize that's not the case after all."
"That's not the reason I'd suggested it, I really did think it was a good theme for Mavis's birthday." Johnny countered, then continued, "Anyway, that's not why I'm here. The truth is I know you guys are hiding something. I'd heard that Dr. Cockroach guy mention about being in a cell, and I don't buy your explanation about it being merely 'mad scientist speech'. Besides, I can understand Pig Latin."
"Oh," Susan said simply as she cursed herself. Why did this kid have to be one of the observant ones?
Looking at the suit of armor in one corner of the room, Jonathan said to it, "Why don't you go hang out down the hall for a bit?"
"Are you sure sir?" the armor asked.
"Yeah," Johnny confirmed, "I'll call if I need you."
"As you wish, sir," the armor said before leaving the room.
Once the armor's steps receded down the hall, Johnny began, "Here's what I think, based on what little I had to put together: You and the Doc were both locked up in a cell until some time ago, possibly the others too. Now you're working together, possibly with the guy who had locked you guys up in the first place, to defend this planet against alien attacks."
Susan didn't confirm how close this guy had come to the truth, but did not try to deny it either.
"Now I don't know the reason you decided to stick around, even if it's only for one night," Johnny confessed, "or why you lied to your commander about not being able to determine the coordinates for this place, but I do know that Drac is just starting to get over the heartbreak of the death of his wife, Mavis's mother, and I don't want to see it getting broken again. Besides, I'm not too thrilled about the idea of Mavis ending up in one of your cells."
"It's not really like that," Susan defended herself, "I mean, the ideas you came up with weren't totally wrong, but the conclusion you drew was off."
When Johnny raised his eyebrow questioningly, Susan sighed and said, "You best have a seat, it'll be easier if I start from the beginning."
Once Johnny pulled up a chair and sat down, Susan sat on the bed and began, "For me, it all started on what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life: my wedding day…"
End of chapter