Life Progresses
It was strange the pace that life as a vampire continued at; while it was known to span far longer than a human's life would be, the years seemed to go by just as quickly - if not quicker.
Watching your family grow was something that was both time-consuming and, yet, went too fast for your liking; it didn't matter if you were an average human or a long-living monster, you still experienced the same mixed sense of pride, sadness and nostalgia as the years went by.
First of all, Lily had aged in what seemed to be virtually nothing to a monster - her own older sister, Mina, who was thirty one years older, wasn't even of age when she passed away - and it was obviously always going to be far too soon that she was gone for all of the family members who had grown to love her. There wasn't much more that could be said about Lily; for hundreds of years, it would be a very sore topic for everyone involved, and they all found that it was better if they simply grieved in their own ways, talking about it whenever they each felt ready.
And then there was the other three; Lucy, who had wanted to be a grown-up since the moment she turned from 'their child' to 'their eldest', was also incredibly painful to see grown up - albeit for different reasons. Perhaps it was the fact that she was living as a teenager before her other siblings for quite a while (even with Lily's accelerated aging) and so the whole "raising a teenager" thing was new to Johnny and Mavis, or maybe the fact that she seemed to have grown beyond her years - whatever it was, it set the tone of joy and trepidation for the years to come.
She was almost like a trial run for what her younger siblings would be like, one supposed; teenage hormones, dressing more like an adult as she got older - and then there was the boyfriend. By the age of 106, she had passed all of these milestones - with twelve years left until she came of age - and it was so not easy. To be fair, Mavis hadn't been too bothered by much of it - slightly emotional, yes, but nothing like Johnny's overprotectiveness. Never in their relationship had she known him to be so protective or possessive, and so she could only deduce that it was possibly an innate and natural biological action that occurred in parents - fathers in particular - when it came to their children...well, it was rather to do with fathers and daughters, it soon transpired.
Nothing seemed to be weirder or harder than seeing her have a baby of her own; when it feels like only yesterday that a child was a toddler who needed their parents' help with everything, seeing that same child - grown and really not a child any longer - helping their own toddlers out was just plain weird. As well as making you feel rather old, it was also rather sad in the sense that you could remember being in their place and helping them to become the people they were in front of you today.
Jack...boy, that had been a whole story in itself; being the only boy couldn't have been easy - let alone with all of the other drama the poor kid had to put up with - and it didn't help one bit that he was socially awkward around those his own age (something that both parents - and Dracula, for that matter - suspected had come from Johnny). Being the only boy meant that while he was just as loved, he wasn't paid attention to as much; his sisters simply took it all up with their drama and such.
For years to come, several members of the family would blame themselves for what happened to Jack; Johnny and Mavis were firm that they should have been paying more attention, Lucy was adamant that if she had only looked out for him and given him advice...heck, even Mina had thought to herself that she could have helped by just sticking around him more to make sure he was never alone. Dracula, however, seemed to feel more guilty than any of them; though he wasn't directly involved, it was his hotel's bar that the young vampire spent several years - decades - at trying to drown his sorrows.
There really was nothing more painful than seeing your child - your child that you had made, raised and loved for all of their life - turning into a depressed alcoholic. Finding Jack passed out in a bar (whether it was the hotel's or simply a random one nearby) was probably the worst thing about it at first; sweet and intelligent Jack simply didn't deserve to be found in such a terrible way, hung over and a tad weepy due to the drink. As the years turned into decades, it wasn't just the bars that Jack found himself turning to either.
"You should talk to him," Mavis told Johnny desperately one night.
Johnny simply looked at a loss for words. "Well...I...I want to, but what am I meant to say? The kid's of age now-"
"But look at him!" Mavis stressed, looking quite on the verge of tears by this point. "He's passed out drunk every single morning, and if he's not, then he's in a bed with some random girl he barely knows!"
The red-head frowned to himself. "Well...look, I don't like it either," He admitted. "I'm not gonna lie, Mavy, I really don't like it; but most guys...they do sleep with loads of girls. I dunno, it's something that guys do, hooking up with random chicks... Besides, what would I even say, Mavis? I never did anything like that, and he won't listen to me."
"You're his father," She pointed out softly. "Of course he'll listen. Maybe all he needs is for you to talk him through it...who knows?"
As it turned out, that 'talk' between father and son had turned into a rather one-sidedly heated argument on Jack's part as he vehemently denied that anything was wrong with him, which then boiled down again to tearful confessions and reassurances.
While Mavis never knew the exact details of the conversation - that was really confidential information for Johnny and Jack to know only at first - she did understand that, whatever their son had told his father, it had deeply affected him.
And then there was Mina; little brown-eyed, mischievous and happily gloomy Mina. Mina, who had homed a bat named Edgar and then gone on to home Edgar's children too after realizing the slight misjudgement of gender. Mina who slept with a brown bat plush toy called Martha-bat.
Mina, who had gone away and come back with an older moustachioed man called Gomez.
To put it lightly, Johnny was not fond of his daughter's new boyfriend; for starters, Gomez was older; no father wanted their daughter dating an older guy, not matter how sweet or suave they seemed. Secondly, he got a bad vibe from the dark-haired man that he couldn't put his finger on; perhaps it was that Gomez seemed like the kind of guy who would be a womaniser, a smooth-talker - no one would be that alluring if they weren't flirtatious or trying to hook up with girl after girl.
Okay, so Johnny was a tiny bit biased and perhaps overthinking it - so sue him! Mina was his daughter - the baby of the family - and he was damned if he was going to let some ass use her for a quick ego boost.
"He's charming and sweet," Mavis would tell him whenever he voiced his concerns to her. "And Mina likes him, so the best thing we can do as her parents is to support her decisions and who she loves."
The thing was, the thought of Mina being in love was ridiculous; Mina was never the romantic sister or the one who had wanted to settle down - she had always wanted excitement and adventure, not men and babies to look after. Sure, she may have pointed out an actor on the TV that she found attractive, but that was it; she wasn't into love or any of that stuff since it was too sappy for her.
Perhaps it wasn't love, Johnny thought one evening; perhaps it was simply an infatuation or - dare he think it - a fling that she was initiating, a one time thing she was instigating.
For a while, it did certainly seem to be that kind of relationship; whenever he and Mavis saw the two together within that first year, the most contact that they ever made was Gomez putting his arm around her waist, or Mina fondly kissing his cheek before one of them left to go on a hunt. Really, there was hardly much to go on - though Johnny could only assume that anything far worse was going on behind closed doors (which he desperately tried not to think about).
It was only a year and a half after Gomez had been first introduced, during Mina's birthday party, that Johnny realized his hopeful assumption about the length of their relationship being short-term was wrong; very, very wrong.
As it turned out, seeing his youngest remaining daughter being hastily kissed and groped at by an older dude was all it took for him to lose his cool - and it also turned out that Mavis wasn't too impressed either...though this was mainly down to his actions.
"Johnny, you cannot keep doing this!" Mavis hissed at him, pulling him out from the party hall through a door into an empty corridor with surprising strength.
Johnny spluttered, looking scandalized. "OUR DAUGHTER is being...being...you know!"
She grimaced slightly. "Yes, I know," She agreed uncomfortably, shaking her head. "It's not a sight a Mom really wants or needs to see. But it's really none of our business what she does with boys now - she's of age and perfectly capable of making her own decisions."
"He's totally using her!" He argued. "I know he is! If this was, like, a zing relationship or even a...a real one, he wouldn't be forcing himself on her!"
Mavis raised an eyebrow. "Forcing himself? Johnny, it's her birthday, she has a boyfriend, and they've both drunk tonight," She pointed out obviously. "I think it's obvious why that combination lead to what we just saw."
Hmm. She does have a point there.
"Could you please just calm down?" She continued, almost pleadingly. "It's been such a great party, and a nice night too - we shouldn't spoil her birthday by arguing about this of all things."
Maybe it was the alcohol he himself had consumed, maybe it was the defeat taking over him once again - whatever it was, Johnny decided to just try to forget about everything that had happened that night and returned to the party, having more than a few drinks to help.
He didn't want to remember any of this in the morning.
Johnny had been attempting to cook spleens in blankets (among other monster delicacies) when a particular moustachioed man awkwardly came to stand in the doorway; Gomez and Mina had been invited to spend the Christmas holiday with the family, and at that moment Mina and Mavis had gone out hunting, leaving the two men alone. Johnny hadn't complained because he knew he'd be busy in the kitchen, which hopefully meant he wouldn't have to look his daughter's boyfriend in the eye.
As it turned out, he continued to be wrong.
"Uhh...can I...help?" The red-head asked slowly, avoiding eye-contact; thinking on it, this was the first time the two had been in the room together without Mavis or Mina present.
Gomez shifted on the spot, looking rather nervous. "Yes...well...I mean you don't have to, but...I'd like you to."
Johnny gave a small nod. "Cool, okay...sit down or whatever, I'm listening."
The dark-haired man didn't sit at the kitchen table, but he did move closer to stand in the light. "Well, sir, I've been thinking about a lot lately - about Mina a lot." Johnny perked up suddenly at this, raising his eyes to give Gomez his full attention. "Sir, I've never met anyone like her; your daughter is...God, where do I start? She's intelligent, stubborn but kind, and she's honestly the most stunning creature I've ever laid my eyes on."
Okay...not sure how I should feel about the word 'creature' being used, but I get his point.
Gomez put his hands into the pockets of his dress trousers and gave Johnny a sincere look. "I love Mina - more than I've ever loved anyone. I know that you aren't particularly fond of me, sir, but I can assure you that I'd do anything for her - you name it, and I'll do it." He gave a small sigh. "I can tell what you're thinking; that I'm a little rich boy who is always getting what he wants - rightly so - and I know that you don't think I'm good enough for Mina. To be honest, you may be completely right about that, but I do know one thing - that I love your daughter so much that I will do whatever it takes to make her happy."
Oh no, Johnny thought in slight horror. Please do not let this be what I think it is.
"Alright," The red-head interrupted, not wanting to hear anymore if this was going the way he thought it was. "I get what you're trying to say, but why are you telling me?"
"Well, I was hoping to maybe...ask her to marry me."
"And you came to ask my permission?" Johnny couldn't help but feel surprised as well as slightly thrown off; neither of his sons-in-law had bothered to ask for permission - not that he was offended by this, since he and Mavis had agreed long ago that their daughters were independent people who could make their own decisions (even if Johnny did find it a tad uncomfortable).
Gomez gave a small shrug. "I felt it was only right; in my family, it's either pre-arranged or you have to ask the girl's parents. It's all rather proper and old-fashioned." He sent the other man a slightly nervous look. "I'm asking, really, not for permission but for acceptance; either way I want to marry her, but I feel that my conscious would be a lot clearer if I knew her father approved."
Such a strange thing to do, Johnny mused to himself; sure, he had asked Dracula about asking Mavis but that was different circumstances - Count Dracula was a very well-respected (and scary) monster, so he kinda had to ask beforehand.
"I see," Johnny said quietly, looking down at the food he had abandoned.
"Can I be honest with you, sir?" Gomez asked, eyes trained on Johnny. "I know that you dislike me, and I'm not going to pretend that I know why...but I'd like you to tell me."
To be honest, Johnny didn't know what to say to that; it wasn't like he could just tell him, 'I get a bad vibe' or 'I think you're bad news'. So, instead, he merely said, "I guess...I guess it's just that you're rich."
The other man looked puzzled by this. "Rich?"
"Yeah," The red-haired man agreed, giving a small nod. "I dunno, I guess...you've probably had all that you wanted, right? Like all the stuff that you wanted - and from what I know, most rich people come across as...as...you know."
Gomez gave a sad smile. "Snobs? Don't worry, I'm not offended; I've seen rich up-close, first-hand, and some are snobs...my family included." Johnny tried not to do a double-take at this, instead listening as the dark-haired man continued. "All my life I've had fancy this and expensive that - don't get me wrong, I appreciated everything they gave me since I was so lucky, but as I've grown I've realized that material objects and money are not what life should be about."
"And your parents?"
He gave a small half-hearted smile. "My parents try to understand, but it's the way they've been raised - the difference in generations and all that. They want me to settle down with a rich girl - hence the prearranged marriage to the nymph girl in America - to keep the family rich and upper-class... But I don't want that," He said softly, suddenly looking rather hesitant as he spoke. "The truth is, I want to marry because I love someone - and I love Mina."
For some reason, Johnny was seeing a whole new light to this Gomez guy; gone was the previous image he had held of a confident older guy only interested in using Mina, and instead there was a honest young man pouring his heart out to him.
Dare he say it, he'd actually been completely wrong about this guy.
"So?" Gomez asked anxiously, snapping Johnny out of his thoughts to look at him. "What do you say, sir?"
Johnny gave a small and warm smile. "First of all, stop calling me, 'sir'; I'm not that old!" Both of them gave a small laugh. "Seriously, just 'Johnny' will do. Second...well, I guess you better get a ring - make sure it's a good one too, 'cause Mina deserves that kind of thing."
After all, the guy was loaded: the least he could do was buy an expensive and frankly amazing engagement ring.
Happy 2015 to you all...Gosh, it seems like I've only JUST got used to writing 2014, and now it's another year! On the plus side, it's this year that the Hotel Transylvania sequel comes out, so yay! XD
I don't think my brain could have picked a worse week to give me plot bunnies - exam week of all weeks! But I've managed to write this in-between revision and such, so I can only hope that I did a somewhat decent job.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed, and I hope that I'll be able to write something else soon!