Chapter 3: First Baby Years

Exactly one year later, it was little Dennis and Martha and Luna's birthday. Both babies shared a cake placed in front of them and the three babies giggled excitedly. Dennis had grown bright, curly, goofy red hair, and looked a lot like his father Johnny, but he had his mother Mavis's bright sapphire blue eyes while his twin sister Martha had grown bright,black hair , blue eyes and just like her mother Mavis. Luna had brunette hair (her hair color lighter than Ericka's own white hair) like her mother Ericka save for her brother Dracula's blue eyes and widow's peak bangs like her stepsister, but her hair was styled in a cute curl tied by a fuchsia bow, and she wore a bright violet suit decorated with red hearts. Everyone had attended the babies' first birthday; the Drac Pack, Mavis's friends, Johnny's parents and even Ericka's brother and their sister , Nick and Marilyn , had also attended.

"Little Dennis,Martha and Luna are a year old now. Wow!" Johnny said happily to Frank, glancing over at his son,daughter and sister-in-law lovingly.

While baby Luna started adorably stuffing her face with frosted cake, baby Dennis,Martha blew a raspberry to blow out the candle. Mavis chuckled, while Ericka wiped Luna's face off with a napkin.

"Nice, yeah. Cute kids," grumbled the little monster candle in a deep voice. The candle then got off the cake and started walking away.

"Okay, time for presents, guys," Mavis announced, while she and her mother took the babies out of their high chairs and carried them to a big pile of presents for both of the kids, already in the possession of some newborn baby wolf pups and a baby golem who was the newborn son of Frank and Eunice, and Pixel, Frankie, Alivia, Alex, Hank, Arianna, Fran, Grundgetta, Jammie,Faye's New baby brother.

"Alllllright!" Murray and Pedro cheered as they came spinning in.

"Let's do this kids up! Check out what I got 'em! Bling!" Murray held up a large gold medallion with wings on it for Dennis.

"And for the little ladies...Bam!" Pedro held up a golden crowns with the image of a sun and the face of Isis the Egyptian Goddess on it for Luna, Martha.

"Wow! Are they cursed?" asked Wayne.

"Super cursed," Murray bragged. "Only the best, straight from the crypt.

"Uh, they're just starting to walk to maybe it's heavier than it..." Johnny tried to stop him, worriedly.

Undeterred, the mummies went to hand over their new gifts for the babies. Pedro placed the crown's on Melany,Martha head, but it was so big it slipped off their head and down to their little bodies looking like a mini hoola hoops , and they started giggling at their new shiny 'toys.' Murray placed the gold necklace around Dennis' neck. Dennis swayed slightly, took a half step, and then fell forward, dragged down by the weight of the medallion. Dennis started to cry.

"Aww, you're okay, Denisovich," Dracula reassured him gently as he picked up his grandson.

"His name is Dennis," Grampa Mike corrected the Count. "Named after my father."

"It's not their vampire name," Dracula replied in a singsong voice. And in a baby voice he cooed, "My little Denisovichy and Martha ." He tickled the baby's little tummy and Dennis,Martha giggled.

Luna crawled up to her daddy and tugged at his caped while speaking baby gibberish, wanting the same kind of attention her nephew and niece were getting. Dracula easily levitated her into his arm, which carried her up to him as if riding a blue cloud.

"Ah, I could never forget my little Luna . My little Luna ." Dracula kissed her tiny forehead, causing Luna to giggle.

"It's Luna ," corrected Nick, while he drank from a cup of coffee.

"Well, it's still not her vampire name," Dracula replied in a singsong voice again, blowing raspberries at his baby girl's tummy and baby Luna squealed in delight.

"Huh. Are we sure they're vampires?" asked Grandma Linda. "I mean not that it's a bad thing, but shouldn't they have fangs and that pasty skin you guys have?"

"Technically, you have until you're five to get your vampire fangs," Wayne explained to Linda.

"Oh, they'll get their fangs. They're Draculas." Dracula bragged with pride, certain the babies would grow their fangs.

"They're also half Loughran," Grampa Mike said, giving his infant grandson and granddaughter an action figure and ballerina doll as gifts . "Maybe they'll be better off where we live, there are more humans there."

"Perhaps the same goes for Luna , she's more human than vampire," Nick agreed, giving the baby a curly blonde haired doll as a present.

The very thought of his family leaving the castle made Dracula shiver as he glared at the two human men for this. "What? Look how well they're playing with the wolf pups," he exclaimed as he gently placed the kids on the floor.

Two werewolf pups were licking the gold medallion necklace. Dennis and Martha checked out the way the pups did it and started licking their new toy soldier and ballerina doll. Luna saw another werewolf pup chewing on a stuffed dog toy with its stuffing exposed and she started to chew on a doll her mother's brother had given her.

Nick grimaced and huffed at the sight of the babies acting like the wolf pups, "Nice influence."

Grampa Mike turned to Johnny, frowning sternly. "Honestly, Johnny, you're a grown man now. Don't you think it's time you got a job?"

Johnny was shocked. "A job?!"

"Maybe you can work at my Inn," Marilyn suggested, cutting up slices of cake for everyone to have.

Dracula went wide-eyed at this and quickly jumped in to the conversation. "No, no. Johnny doesn't need to work at your Inn or anywhere, because, ehh…that's why they have to stay here, because Johnny already has a job." He placed a long arm around Johnny's shoulders.

Johnny looked baffled, but he decided to play along. "I do? I mean, I do. I mean...what do I mean? What do I do again?"

"Yes, what does Johnny do at the hotel?" Nick raised a skeptical eyebrow. "From what I understand Ericka does all the real work, even when she was pregnant."

Dracula glared at his wife's brother , then said with a weird smile, "Johnny, he's in charge of, uh…" Dracula stalled until it came to him. "Making the hotel more human-friendly as I am going to start allowing humans as guests at the hotel. Yes. Here. Staying here. Not leaving." Done and final.

"Really?!" Johnny considered the job offer and he was thrilled. "Yeah, it could be awesome. Humans and monsters, sharing the same towels and spoons. That's a huge step for monster and mankind!"

Nick scowled, doubtful about the idea, but Marilyn remained polite saying, "That's adorable."

"How sweet! You know, when Johnny was younger, he had his iguana share a cage with his parakeet," Grandma Linda added, ignorantly.

"Let's hope this ends better." Marilyn shuddered, deducing how the story of the iguana and parakeet ended in her mind.

But Johnny didn't listen to either of them. "Gonna rock it for you, Drac! Don't stop believing!"

"I think that's a great idea." Ericka agreed excitedly after considering it. "It's time we show humans how fun this hotel can really be, and we can introduce monsters to modern human activities, ever since Johnny and I came here we had a blast!"

"We have a present," Eunice grinned as she and Frank came up to Dracula and handed him a present. "I hope it's acceptable. We got one for our baby too."

Dracula took it proudly saying, "My First Guillotine, very educational. Well played, Frank."

Frank and Eunice smiled at each other while their cheeks touched lovingly.

But Mavis wasn't so sure while smiling nervously, awkwardly saying, "It's great, thank you. We just have to baby proof that." She took the baby guillotine box away from Dracula and began searching through a drawer. "Johnny, do you know where you put the rubber guards?"

Johnny went to help her, while Eunice huffed in disbelief, "Baby proofing a guillotine? So you cut your finger off, its part of the fun."

"She made me baby proof the whole hotel," Dracula sourly complained towards his daughter with both babies again in his arms. Luna levitated while Dracula said to Eunice behind his palm in a singsong voice, "Someone's overprotective."

"Who do you think she gets it from?" Ericka teased in her own singsong voice as she took Luna from the air, and Dracula glared annoyingly at her.

In the lobby, zombie bellhops were placing rubber guards on the ends of every sharp and pointy thing, including the spears of the suits of armor guards and housekeeping witches' noses, to their surprise and annoyance. In the tunnels Mr. Ghouligan locked a baby gate at the end of the stairs to the bottomless pit, a zombie bellhop walked lazily then fell over it into the chasm, Mr. Ghouligan checked it and it was okay. In a guest room, a pink cyclopsian creature struggle to open a baby proofed toilet and ripped it clean from the pipes, and would have done his business but a tower of water suddenly spewed up like a geyser.

Another year passed and the babies were coming to the terrible twos. Everything was peaceful and quiet at the hotel during the night when...

"Johnny, come quick!" Mavis shouted.

Johnny ran down the hall as fast as his legs could take him, but Dracula over took him in a blue mist comet and was the first one to the door.

"What's up? Their okay?" Dracula asked, almost panicked.

Mavis quickly turned around and cheered with a big smile while holding her two year old baby, "Dennis, Martha said their first words!"

"They did?" Dracula asked excitedly as his eyes grew adorably wide.

Dracula flew into the room while Mavis held up Dennis, Martha to their grandfather and encouraged him to speak, "C'mon, Honey. Say it again."

"Blah, blah-blah," Dennis, Martha cooed in perfect imitation of the Hollywood Dracula.

Dracula's big smile turned into a deep frown, even his high collar drooped low. "I don't say 'bleh, bleh-bleh,'" he grunted.

"We didn't say that you did," Mavis grinned, while Johnny playfully took Dennis, Martha and allowed them to climb up on his moppy red hair.

"Then where did they get it?" Dracula asked, frowning.

"Blah, blah-blah," cooed Dennis, Martha.

"Well, maybe sometimes you say it," Mavis shrugged.

"I only say it when I say I don't say it!" Dracula insisted.

"Blah, blah-blah," Dennis, Martha cooed again.

"Okay, kids, we get it you can talk." Dracula frowned, while Mavis took him from Johnny, but then Dracula softened as he leaned down to check the giggling little baby's mouth for fangs as he whispered in a singsong voice, "Denisovich,Martha ." No fangs.

"Dad…" Mavis caught him.

"Just checking for cavities," Dracula said quickly, and then glided out of the room like an awkward shadow and the door slammed shut.

When he was gone, Mavis playfully turned to Dennis, Martha and imitated her father, "Blah, blah-blah."

"Blah, blah-blah," Dennis, Martha repeated after her.

Suddenly Dracula's head zipped upside down from the ceiling and right in front of them. He had caught Mavis telling Dennis, Martha what to say. "IT WAS YOU!"

The young couple and their baby just feigned innocent shrugs.

Meanwhile in Frank and Eunice's room , they were putting the baby boy to bed until he started to move his mouth which means he was going to say his very first word for the first time and his mom and dad.

" Frankie come quickly, I have something to show you". said Eunice

" What is it sweetheart, I was in the middle of my talk show but it can wait, so what is it that you were tell me "? said Frank

" Frank it's Evan he said his first word" said Eunice

" He did"said Frank

" Go on tell dada what are you told mama" said Eunice

" Fire Bad" said Evan

" I DO NOT SAY FIRE BAD, did you teach him that ?" said Frank

" Oh I think I did dear, I'm sorry honey." said Eunice with a smile which made Frank smile too.

Dracula soon returned to his private chambers where he found Ericka reading a book in bed, and off to the side was a crib where their baby girl slept. He quietly glided up to it and gently picked Luna up from the crib, and was about to kiss her forehead until...

"If you wake Luna one more time, so help me I'll…" Ericka warned him with an accusing smirk.

The baby girl started to wail crankily from being awakened by her father.

"I'm sorry, Darling. I just can't help it." Dracula shrugged, and started to sing her a lullaby. "Hush, little vampire, don't say a word. Papa's gonna bite a head off a bird."

He touched noses to her, the same way he had done with Mavis when she was a baby, and Luna giggled. While Dracula continued to coo at her, he gently opened her mouth to find any fangs. No fangs. At least not yet, he had been a late-fanger himself at least.

"B…Bl…" Luna tried to speak.

Dracula froze, and his smile got bigger. "She's trying to say her first word!" The vampire squealed excitedly.

"Blah, blah-blah," Luna cooed.

Once again, Dracula lost his smile and frowned irately. He handed the baby to Ericka and banged his head against a nearby wall in frustrated annoyance. His wife stared at him and the baby giggled amusingly.

"Did you teach her that?" Dracula asked accusingly to Ericka . "Mavis did the same to Denisovich,Martha . How many times do I have to tell everyone, I never say that!"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist," Ericka apologized with a sheepish grin. "I'll teach her to say Daddy instead."

Dracula's face lit up and he immediately sat next to Ericka on the bed. He kissed her appreciatively, and the loving parents started to teach their baby to say mommy or daddy.

"C'mon, sweetie. Say Daddy!" Ericka cooed.

"Say Daddy, or say Mommy!" Dracula cooed.

"Blah, blah-blah!" Luna squeaked.

Dracula frowned and slumped his shoulders, while Ericka chuckled amusingly. This was going to be a long night.