Chapiter 4: Missing page.
The sun rises, its light illuminating the imposing, but hidden castle in Transylvania. All around the pool, confetti and ribbons of all colors were lying on the ground, marking the end of a big party. The last guests were returning inside their rooms. On their way, witches muttered between their teeth that if some monsters would have returned faster, they could have cleaned all this mess already. The sun was already half risen and they would have to clean it all the next day, if they wanted the pool to be ready in time for the guests.
Dracula was outside, looking around. Never before would he have tolerated such a mess, yet having seen his daughter laughing so much every time Jonathan received a water balloon in his face, he couldn't help but feel happy and no emergency could have ruined it. Suddenly, pain brought him out of his thoughts. He looked at his body, starting to get scorched by some sunlight. The pain was excruciating, but he still felt good. He didn't stay there any longer, he turned into a bat and flew to his room. He deserved a few hours of sleep after such a concert with his friends. It was the second time he sang in public.
For the second time.
He sang a lot before... With his friends, for Martha, to put Mavis to sleep when she was a baby...
This thought brought him back, making him think about the key. It was always well hidden, but the day before he had found it on the floor in front of his office. Was it a mere coincidence, or was this the doing of his daughter? No, she had given him her word, she promised that she never would delve into his things, his past. However, making a promise is one thing, but keeping it is another. He hadn't really shown a good example to his daughter on this point. Doubts seized him, there were things that Mavis should never discover, and these things were in his office where someone intruded itself, without much care...
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One last kiss, a goodbye sign waved by her hands and Mavis left Jonathan to enter her room. All guests were sleeping and she saw her father enter his room, nothing could bother her now. She laid herself down comfortably on her bed and pulled out the old diary from under her pillow. Her heart pounding, she opened it and continued reading.
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Dracula and Martha were walking in the small roads of a village in Hawaii. It was dark, so they were alone and had fun watching the various memorabilia in the windows of small Hawaiian homes. Martha kept looking around. At the slightest noise, her muscles tensed and the anguish was clearly visible on her face. At the end of a dirt road, a wild cat, threw a turnstile of postcards a few yards from them. Martha clung to Dracula's arm, while letting loose small cries of surprise.
-"Why are you so afraid?" Dracula asked, visibly concerned by his lover's uneasiness.
-"My parents always told me to be very careful of humans. I never dared to enter in one of their villages before..." she answered, still a little shaken.
-"You don't have any reason to be afraid, I promise to always watch over you." he said to her softly, while giving her a reassuring smile. They came closer towards the postcards that were scattered scattered on the ground. This village was isolated, which is why most traders didn't bother store all the goods inside their shops. Dracula lifted the turnstile, which obviously was not sturdy at all. Martha stooped and picked up a card.
-"Look, it's so pretty!" she told him, in a very playful tone, sounding almost childish and very innocent.
-"Why did you take this one? There are many others..." he asked her, curious.
-"No, because on this one, it is written: Paradise, you will find in Hawaii. And that is exactly what I found." Martha told Dracula sweetly.
A huge smile split his face. He kissed her and took her to the beach, sepia postcard in hand. They sat down on the warm sand, Martha's head resting on the shoulder of the young Count, while he covered the shoulders of his girlfriend with his mantle. It isn't that it was cold, but just ending up in his strong and reassuring arms made the girl feel like she was... in paradise.
-"I feel good with you, I feel so safe." she muttered to him softly.
-"You always will be, my dear." he replied in kind.
-"Dear? I don't believe it!" some unknown man just said in disbelief, while suddenly coming onto the beach just steps away from them. Dracula jumped and in a cloud of purple smoke he went in front of the intruder.
-"Who are you?!" Dracula asked furiously.
-"You might not know me, but her? Oh, her, she knows me, we got way back!" the man arrogantly, watching Martha. Dracula looked surprised.
-"You... You know him?" he asked, not too sure what to expect.
-"Yes, but, he's... just an acquaintance." she told him while standing up and getting closer.
-"You... dirty w***!" threw the man furiously. Martha looked away.
-"How dare you..." Dracula clenched his teeth, feeling anger rising in him. Nobody had the right to say such words to his beloved. He clenched his fists and in a flash, he punched me, sending him flying five meters away.
-"Drake! That's who I am!" He stood up, furious at being humiliated like this, and astonished at the force with which he was sent to the ground.
-"And I'm sorry to interrupt your sweet escapade, but, you're coming with me, Martha! " Drake roared.
-"She will go nowhere!" Dracula barred the road to the other vampire.
-"How touching! But... I'm not a mere acquaintance, her father promised that she'll marry me!" Drake hissed possessively.
These words froze Dracula on the spot. He turned towards Martha, still standing behind them.
-"What? I mean, he's at least 50 years older than you are!" exclaimed Dracula, emotionally wounded.
-"I... I'm sorry..." she whispered weakly.
-"Her family didn't have much of a choice." Drake said, smiling wickedly. Dracula's eyes became red. Drake realized that he's no match against the Count, 50 years older or not.
-"Tell him to leave." Martha heard this phrase and froze. This voice that haunted since she is old enough to get married, that voice, that of Drake.
-"Never! I love him, he's my zing, I don't want you. " she replied defiantly.
-"You don't have a choice!" Drake replied bluntly.
-"We always have a choice!" Martha almost shouted at him, a mix of fear and anger in her tone.
-"Except when your mother is at stake..." Drake told her, with a sadistic tone and a sardonic smile plastered on his face. Martha was utterly shocked upon hearing this.
-"What did you do to her?!" she screeched at him, despair invading her mind.
-"Tell him to leave!" Drake continued, almost sounding obsessive.
Meanwhile, Dracula had sent a huge rock in the direction of Drake with his powers. He ducked in time and was surprised by the powers of the boy. Telekinesis doesn't develop at this age normally. Drake pulled out his claws and a vicious battle began. He managed to tear the costume of the Count at the chest. Dark red blood flowed and small drops fell on the floor among the grains of sand. He smiled, pleased, but he only increased the anger of his opponent. Dracula grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the trunk of a palm tree not far away.
-"If I die, you will never see your mother again, so I will repeat one last time: Tell him to go! Now!" Drake shouted furiously, still reeling from Dracula's assault.
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Mavis closed the journal instantly. Her heart was pounding. She was afraid of who her mother would choose. Her father or her maternal grandmother? She opened the diary and read the following pages, but the rest had no consistency. She looked more closely at the old journal and noticed pieces of paper hung between two pages. Frustrated, she got up and ran to see Jonathan in his room. She jumped on the bed, shaking her boyfriend still asleep.
Thud! Jonathan fell face first on the floor. Needless to say, he wasn't asleep anymore...
BOUM!
-"Ah! Who's there?!"Jonathan stood up, ha
-"Sorry! Are you okay?" Mavis asked, now feeling a little guilty.
-"Let's just say that being woken up by falling out of bed after being shaken by a vampire... wasn't exactly my smoothest awakening..." he told her, trying to sound slightly annoyed, yet also sounded a little playful and genuinely happy to see her.
Mavis smiled, stood up from the bed to kiss him tenderly, as an apology.
-"All is forgiven..." Jonathan says, still a little smitten after that kiss. "So what's happening to you, didn't you notice that I am in my underwear in front of you?" he continued, realizing that he was half-n*** and scanning his room for his clothes.
-"Sorry, it was important! It's about the diary..." she told him, while unable to repress a slight blush.
-"What is it?" Jonathan picked up his clothes, poorly folded on a wooden chair in the corner of the room and began to hastily dress himself, a little embarrassed that Mavis saw him like that. He thought that it was fortunate that the diary occupied most of her mind right now.
-"There's a page missing! Looks like it was torn, as if...as if the person who removed it wanted this page to never be read." she told him, sounding a little down.
-"Let me guess, you think of your father?" he said, while leaning against the wall in front of Mavis and equipping his old shoes.
-"Yes, this page must surely be in his office. Somewhere..." she looked into his eyes intently.
-"Ooh-ooh, no, I refuse to set foot in this room!" he replied in a slightly panicked tone.
-"Why?" she inquired, curious.
-"Because, two days ago, I saw the door half-opened and so I thought that your father was there. We're not allowed to go there! Your father will kill me..." Jonathan said to Mavis, shivering, remembering that time where Dracula threatened to suck every ounce of blood from him body. He was afraid that he could decide to make good on his promise...
-"You worry too much, Johnny... Everything's gonna be fine, we won't get caught..." she said in a tempting and slightly seductive voice, while eying him softly. Jonathan knew those eyes: the same look she gave him just before she kissed him of her 118th birthday. He sighed.
-"Oh... I only wish that we could become invisible like Griffin...(The invisible man)" he said, resigned.
Sorry for the delay ! Thanks Sondardo that corrects my chapter for the English translation ! I hope you liked this chapter and don't forget to post a review if you have time ! :-)
