Freddy vs. Dracula
A "Nightmare on Elm Street" / "Dracula" Crossover Fanfiction
Summary: When the immortal Vampire Lord Vlad III Drăculea moves into the house at 1428 Elm Street in Springwood, Ohio, he discovers that a malevolent spirit already lays claim to the premises. Now it's Fangs vs. Glove as the King of the Old Monsters battles the King of the New Monsters for domination.
Disclaimer: "A Nightmare on Elm Street" was created and written by Wes Craven, and produced by New Line Cinema. The franchise is currently owned by Warner Brothers.
"Dracula" was written by Bram Stoker and was published in 1897. In 1930, the rights for the novel and the stage adaptation were purchased by Universal Studios. As of this time, "Dracula" has entered the Public Domain.
That said, I do not own any of the characters from either of these two franchises. This Fanfiction crossover is the product of a hobbyist having a bit of fun with some of his favorite fictional characters, situations and settings, and is not written for profit.
I hope that this is a sufficient disclaimer.
A note about the rating: This story is rated "M." One of the fandoms is, after all, a "Slasher" movie franchise, with everything that this implies.
But it is my intention to keep any 'gratuitous' and 'prurient' details that are par-for-the-course in Slasher Films to the barest minimum as I mainly focus on what might happen if the King of the Old Monsters battled the King of the New Monsters, while keeping their personalities, powers and abilities canon compliant.
Historian's Notes:
This story takes place sometime after the events depicted in "Freddy vs. Jason" (circa. 2003,) during the mid-summer of 2010.
Because Dracula is immortal, he finds that he needs to move his residence every 10 – 15 years or so, to avoid arousing suspicion. Since Dracula has learned the value of discretion, it is certain that he would never have relocated to 1428 Elm Street in the first place if he knew of Freddy's existence. But the citizens of Springwood did such a good job over the years of covering-up Freddy's crimes, death at the hands of a local, vigilante mob, and subsequent supernatural killing sprees that Dracula did not know any of this when he bought the property.
It would be easy to just move somewhere else and write 1428 Elm Street off as a bad investment - Dracula is wealthy enough to do this.
But just as the historical Dracula would not cower before the Ottoman Sultan or the King of Hungary; Dracula will do no less when he confronts Springwood's Bastard Son of a Hundred Maniacs.
The Dracula in this story will be 90% Christopher Lee from the Hammer films; 8% Bela Lugosi for the accent, mysticism and mannerisms from the iconic 1931 Universal Pictures movie; and the remaining 2% is a composite of all the other actors (which most recently includes Nicolas Cage in Universal Pictures' 2023 movie, "Renfield") who are too numerous to mention here that have competently portrayed Dracula in the hundreds of movies and television shows over the years.
In addition, I will also draw from the historical Wallachian Warrior-Prince, Vlad III Drăculea, who gave his name to Bram Stoker's famous creation – a man who in real life was far more dangerous than any fictional vampire could ever aspire to be.
Chapter 1: Hard Times for a Bogeyman
It's good to be back in MY home, thought Freddy Krueger after his latest - albeit brief - stay in Hell, before he began to monologue aloud:
"My home at 1428 Elm Street. Here's where it all began. Oh, it may have originally belonged to Mr. Underwood; my late and unlamented foster 'parent.' But it eventually became mine. And not just as my anchor to the mortal world. It is MY home in every sense of the word, and I have to admit that I am somewhat attached to it.
"It was here, you see, that I first discovered the Secret of Pain: That once you learned to stop feeling pain, you could then start to use it for your own end. 'What does not destroy you only makes you stronger,' and all that jazz. Pain is a very good teacher. And I was a very apt pupil. But now, I am the Master - not just the master of pain, but also the master of fear itself!
"But that's not to say that it has been easy for me . . . .
"Many times, I have risen to prey upon the children of Elm Street here in Springwood, Ohio. My very first Reign of Terror was more than half a century ago, and I was as alive and as vulnerable as my prey. Nevertheless, nineteen children* would die by my Bladed Glove before I was caught.
"It might have all ended there and then. After my arrest, I would be tried, convicted and most likely sentenced to life in some mental asylum for the criminally insane where I would rot away for decades without any children to . . . amuse me.
"But the 'Good Townspeople' of Springwood had other plans for me. Using the contrivance of "An improperly filled-out Search Warrant," they set me free – so they would then be free to take the law into their own hands, and administer their own, rough-justice on the 'pervert' who killed their precious little children.
"They formed a vigilante mob of angry parents, who hounded me to the boiler room where I worked, and doused me with gasoline. But unbeknownst to them, as I died by fire, I was made an offer from the Dream Demons that I immediately accepted, and then my fun REALLY began!
"Now, I could hunt my young victims in their dreams. And their parents would be absolutely powerless to stop me!
"At first, the contract I made with the Dream Demons limited me to only being able to prey on the children of the people who were directly involved in my own murder. But once I had done for them, I could then move on to all the other children of the world!
"But as with any Deal with the Devil, there was just one, small 'catch' . . . .
"Before I could enter the dreams of a child, that child had to first know about me, and what I could do to them in their dreams. But the Townspeople of Springwood had done a very good job of erasing all traces my existence from the official town records; no doubt to protect them from being prosecuted for my 'murder.'
"Because of this, I was originally limited to preying on the children of those who had taken part in the vigilante mob and those who helped them cover up their naughtiness when they took the law into their own hands. But the Dream Demons assured me that once children began dying in their beds, word of my existence and my name would spread unstoppably, cover-up or not.
"I began what I called my "Special Work" the day after I died, and my remains were hidden in the trunk of an old, 1959 Cadillac, deep in the town junkyard. I visited the children in their dreams, terrorizing them, cutting them a bit. I fed on their fear, whetting my appetite before I started killing the little piggies and taking their souls for nourishment.
"But then I had a little 'misunderstanding' with someone named Manx, who had been in a similar line of work for some thirty years before I died. And after my visit to his Christmasland 'inscape,' my plans had to change, a little bit . . . .
"I was somewhat disappointed at first when the Dream Demons told me that I had to wait some 13 years before I could resume my career of dream slaughter; all the more so when I found that the children I could prey upon were now in their mid to late teens. (I'm an Under-Ten-Kind-of-Guy, myself.)
"But soon I learned to like my new, slightly older prey. Teenagers could be as frightened as grade school kids. And when you added the underlying sexual element that teens brought into the mix . . . well, it was something that I could definitely get used to.
"But killing kids in their dreams turned out to be a lot harder than it sounded. Let's just say that I had more than a few . . . setbacks, along the way. And in the meantime, the people of Springwood became even better at erasing my memory from existence. But one day, while I found myself sitting in Hell's Penalty Box, I came up with a new, ingenious plan.
"I decided to work with an 'associate' to help me remind the people of Springwood that I was still a force to be reckoned with! After searching the bowels of Hell, I found the perfect stooge; a big, dumb walking pile of offal named Jason Voorhees, whose own kill-count of teenagers, I had to admit, was even more impressive than my own.
"At first, he would get all the blood, but I'd get the credit, and once the panic had set in, I'd be free to resume my Special Work, and then NO child would be safe!
"Unfortunately for me, Jason Voorhees was not what you would call a "team player," and the big fat glutton not only got to kill my prey, but he was also getting all the credit that was rightfully mine. Well, I wasn't about to let that stand! And I immediately went out to set him straight: There was only room for ONE slasher in Springwood, and that was going to be ME!
"But the big idiot just wouldn't listen, and we had to fight it out . . . .
"I'd like to think that I gave as good as I got. But in the end, Jason won our fight by 'Technical Knock-Out,' and we both ended up back in Hell.
"Old Scratch isn't known for suffering those who fail him, and I feared the worst; that I would be locked-out of the Real World, forever. Hell itself wasn't so bad, at least for someone like me. But without children to prey upon, that was a real bitch! That was torture!
"But Hell's Grimdark Tyrant liked my style, and made me an offer that I couldn't refuse . . . .
"He let me go back to the Real World, back to my house at 1428 Elm Street, for another chance to stalk the children of Springwood. But it would not need to end there.
"Even as we spoke, a teenage girl had recently unearthed documentation of my existence that had escaped the censors, and was planning to post her discovery online. Once that was done, word of my existence would get out – never to be recalled - and everyone, not just the people of Springwood, Ohio, would know all about me.
And once children the world over began falling to my blades in the "safety" of their own beds, I would be unstoppable! I would be invincible.
"I would become the supreme deity of the world!
"But, as always with Old Nick Slick's deals, there was the inevitable 'catch.' By the time I got back home, a new tenant had moved in. And before I could put my plans into action, I had to drive the squatter from my home.
"Oh, and by the way, Old Scratch told me that the squatter is a vampire . . . .
"Well, I thought, no problem. After all, even vampires have to sleep. And when Mr. Fangface goes to his coffin before sunup and starts dreaming, I'll be there, waiting for him . . . .
A/N: At the risk of this sounding like a shameless, self-promoting plug; for more details on Freddy Krueger's little 'misunderstanding' with someone named "Manx," (as well as the 'discrepancy' in the number of Freddy's victims from the canonical 20 to the 19 here, please refer to my March 28, 2020 fanfic, "Freddy in Christmasland."
This story is a crossover between "A Nightmare on Elm Street," and "NOS4A2" by Joe Hill that attempts to answer some 'questions' raised in ANOES without rising to the level of "fix-it fic."