Hideout Hotel III
Drak shared his idea with his uncle. '….So when Frankie said "convention", I thought of all you guys.'
'It's not a silly idea,' one of the ghosts remarked. 'Humans don't tend to believe in us anymore, but they are still quite frightened of us.'
Dracula nodded, looking thoughtful. 'Well, I've got to admit: things have been a little dead at the reunion this year. Everyone's been real disheartened at having no one to scare. Maybe this is just what the doctor ordered to liven things up.'
'Then you'll do it?' Drak asked.
Dracula looked around. 'What do you think? Everyone up for scaring some high-profile criminals out of their wits?'
The room was filled with cheering.
:[
Dr. Dred stood at the reception desk with Toad.
'Toad, it's glorious!' he declared. 'Every major criminal in the world, under my roof!'
'They sure aren't major tippers,' Toad remarked, pulling out his empty pockets.
Dr. Dred ignored him and looked down at his registry. 'Racketeers, thieves, con-men, my kind of people! Oh, the camaraderie!'
The phone at the reception suddenly rang.
Dr. Dred answered it. 'Hotel desk. May I help you?' Then he heard the most outrageous thing. 'What? A ghost in your breakfast? But that's—' He was interrupted as a second phone rang. He reached for it and found a similar complaint. 'Room 306? There's a skeleton in your closet? I don't understand!'
At the switchboard, Toad was receiving similar complaints. 'Yes? Your bed just floated out the window? Uh…hold on. Hello? Room 521 reports a dragon in the bathtub?' Confused, Toad turned. 'Oh, Dr. Dred? Do we allow pets?' But soon that switchboard was blowing up with similar complaints.
Dr. Dred ended up with four phones in his hands. 'This can't be happening! There are no such things as ghosts!'
Vampires, yes. Wolf-men and werewolves, yes. Living mummies, yes. Mutants, yes.
But ghosts were a scientific impossibility.
'Oh,' a spectre suddenly emerged from one of the phones, 'I wouldn't say that.' It grinned at him for a moment. 'Boo!'
Dr. Dred dropped the phones and bolted.
Toad quickly hopped after him. 'It's a haunted hotel! Hurry, Dr. Dred!'
:[
Every crook in the hotel fled.
The Drak Pack came up to the reception desk to watch them go.
'Well, that does it, Pack,' Drak said.
'Yeah.' Frankie slapped the hotel registrar book shut. 'Case closed!'
'But wait!' Howler pointed. 'Those crooks are escaping.'
'Oh, boy!' Drak slapped himself in the face. 'I forgot about that?'
'But I didn't!'
The Drak Pack spun around to see Big D leaning over the back of reception, phone in hand.
'Do I have to think of everything around here?' Big D asked. 'Boy, kids today!'
The crooks cars were all suddenly stopped. They heard the sound of sirens in the distance.
'You called the police?' Drak asked.
'Who else?' Big D hung up the phone. 'My fangs maybe underused these days but my brain…ha, ha! Still sharp as a tack.'
'Good point, Big D,' Drak said. 'But I'm sorry we had to spoil your reunion of weirdos and ghoul-friends.'
'Spoil?' Big D asked. 'What spoil? We had a ball! It was like old times.' He began singing. 'A-haunting we will go, a-haunting we will go!' Then he turned back to the boys and declared. 'It was gloriously gruesome!'
Drak chuckled and turned to look out.
He suddenly froze up, though, and his jaw slipped open. For a moment he had a flashback.
Blood sprayed. A body fell heavily over him.
'Drak?' Howler asked. 'You okay?'
'No.' Big D's voice was suddenly right next to him. His uncle's hand landed on his shoulder. 'All right! Everybody out the back!'
Drak felt himself steered out by his uncle.
…The only one, besides him, who'd seen what had happened that day.
:[
Agent Black stood in front of his superiors.
'So…the field operatives reported that, while the criminals were being apprehended, an unknown entity calling themselves the Helsing Society approached and wanted access to the hotel?'
'That's right.'
'And it was denied?'
Agent Black narrowed his eyes. 'Of course it was.'
'But that wasn't all. The Drak Pack was clearly visible through the windows of the hotel. One of the Drak Pack saw the insignia of this Helsing Society and had a "fear reaction"?'
'His pupils were noted to become dilated, and his expression was one of fear,' Agent Black said. 'Previously, he's been observed to be the most vocal of the group. This time, however, one of the others asked him a question and he did not answer. The other vampire also steered him out of the room, like you might remove someone from a trauma trigger that they're reacting very badly to.'
'And the Helsing Society triggered this response?'
'He was seen to be joking and laughing along with the others prior to seeing the insignia,' Agent Black said. 'Make of that what you will.'
'And this was also the reason you decided to keep the Helsing Society away from the Drak Pack's vehicle?'
Agent Black nodded. 'If they have traumatised that boy, he wants a very quick escape.'
His direct superior nodded. 'We need to launch an immediate investigation into the Helsing Society. We need to know who they are, what they do, and, most importantly, who it is they answer to.'
:[
'Who were they?' Pryce demanded.
'The NSA, unfortunately,' Field Commander Ryan said. 'I didn't mind them apprehending the criminals. That's hardly our jurisdiction.'
Pryce shook his head. 'But those criminals were forced out by malicious supernatural activity. That is our jurisdiction. And they wouldn't let you in to deal with it.'
'Apparently, they felt we would "contaminate a crime scene",' Ryan remarked.
Pryce froze and raised his eyebrow. 'You have your doubts?'
'I don't think they view those three monsters that've been flying around as the evil creatures they are,' Ryan said. 'They not only stopped us from entering the grounds of the hotel, but they also stopped us from entering a street that ran alongside the hotel. We later discovered that the monsters had a getaway vehicle stashed in there.'
Pryce scowled. 'So they actively protected monsters.'
Ryan nodded gravely.
:[
Jess stepped into her house.
Instantly, she felt her bruised and aches soothe. Looking up, she wondered if there was something about the house. This kind of training felt…wrong somehow. So, she'd made a decision. Jess pushed herself away from the door and headed for the kitchen. She passed her mother.
'I didn't think debating took so long!' her mother huffed.
'Well, you don't have to worry about that,' Jess said, grabbing a plate out of the fridge. 'I'm not going back.'
'Fine. Whatever.'
Jess quickly warmed up her supper and then took her plate upstairs. Her mother didn't even notice her going. Jess went into her room and passed through it, opening the hidden door and locking her bedroom door behind her with a wave of her fingers. Then she flicked the switch, turning on the lights. She made her way up the stairs and into the attic. Pushing the door open, she clicked.
The hearth lit by itself.
Sitting down at the table, Jess began to eat.
She eyed her grandmother's Ouija board.
