chapter 18
Dracula flapped hard because Dennis was too depressed to think. "Denise-o-vich! Please i am not 200 years old anymore!" Dracula said panting. Dennis sighed and went bat. "All in one night... He must have been capturing werewolves for years." Dracula said when they got back home. "Yeah, even if we could learn this ancient screech, it says two masters could hurt the victims." Vlad said examining a scroll. "Maybe we could make them werewolf again." Mavis suggested. "We'd need another werewolf to do that." Vlad said. "And i think he got rid of all werewolves and made them vampires with Winnie, Nathaniel, Tamara, and Samantha." "Dennis what do you suggest?" Johnny asked. Dennis simply sat slumped in an armchair by the fireplace staring at a painting. "They'll come here first... They know even if we didn't protect humans they wouldn't want other monsters to share what's left of the humans with." He said grinding his teeth. "We get the monsters all prepared... They may be vampires, but still werewolves meaning a silver bullet could kill one." Dennis said coldly. "Dennis! Those are innocent lives... That's your wife, your children and my grandchildren." "THEN MAYBE WE WERE ALL MEANT TOO DIE!" Dennis shouted. "Dennis! I know you are upset." Dracula said coming forward. "I was upset when i was left at my wedding... I was broken when i realized Winnie never hurt me, but i likely hurt her... I'm gone... I've lost everything... What else do i have too lose but my wife?" Dennis said sighing. Johnny pulled Dracula back to the table where they went over old scrolls that might help. "He's beyond hurting... I would be too if it was me." Johnny said looking over at him. "One's true love starts even a cold monster's heart." Dracula said. "That's what your mother used to say." Vlad said slightly smiling. "Without Winnie... I can see his heart may never be the same." Dracula said starting too cry. "You made it through." Johnny said. "I had Mavis... He has no one." Dracula said. "We need to get Winnie back... DENNIS! Get over here and help!" Dracula shouted. "Go get a stake in the heart." Dennis muttered. "Do you even care about Winnie?" Dracula taunted. That got Dennis's attention he got up and came forward. "We need to arm the hotel whether or not we plan to start a war... He'll come by any moment to kill me for what i've done unless he has a different course of action." Dennis said pointing to a schematic of the hotel. "This will be hard Papa Drac... We need to surround the place with garlic, and wooden spikes, best if we have non vampire monster take care of that... And all forms of undead burn like oil... Best have witches make a fire moat, and those wooden spikes? We'll need the walls covered in them incase they fly." Dennis said. "No need, vampires can't fly over garlic, too powerful." Dracula said. "Take care of this while i go to the kitchen, but don't put the garlic until i leave." Dennis said leaving the room. "Quazi i need all the saltpeter for explosive cherry bomb pie, and sugar." Dennis demanded. "YOU HEARD THE MAN! SALTPETER AND SUGAR!" Quasimodo shouted. Once he got them together he began cooking them on a hot griddle. "Dennis what are you doing?" Mavis asked. "Makeshift smoke bombs." Dennis answered simply. he heated and melted it down until it was similar to a sap like substance before putting them in little cups with fuses. "Maybe Uncle Frank should be out of this battle." Dennis said. "He and i will leave... They're after me." Dennis handed the smoke bombs to Mavis asking her too set them up at the front and back entrances. "Mom, i heard dad had an old antique pistol he got in his days as a traveler before he met you, does it still work?" He asked. "Dennis! We can not." Mavis began. "I know!" Dennis said rushing upstairs while Mavis followed. "We aren't gonna shoot em." Dennis said fishing through his dad's old backpack. "Aha!" He said finding a giant box of little red tubes. "We're gonna scare them making them think we're shooting when we shoot one round at Bela, while they assume we're in rapid fire from firecrackers." Dennis said continuing to search finding the old pistol. "Me and Uncle Frank watch from the safety of the old treehouse while most of the monsters take refuge in their rooms." Dennis said. "Scaring them away will buy us some time." Dennis said. "How much do we need?" Mavis asked. "All the time in the world." Dennis replied.