Back at the hotel, Mavis sobbed, her hands over her eyes and her body hunched over on the ground. Her uncles were all around her, Wayne trying to pat her back soothingly and Murray offering her tissues to blow her nose in.
"It's not supposed to be like this," she whimpered. "What's gotten into Dad?" She looked to her uncles for answers, but she was only met with confused looks.
"I'm not sure," Frank answered for them all. "I've never seen him behave like this before." He gazed out to the ballroom door with a gulp. "I sure hope that kid's okay."
Mavis's eyes teared up more at the mention of her zing. "Johnny," she sobbed out, and broke down again.
But, to her surprise, a familiar voice answered. "Mavis!"
She lifted her head, her tears of sadness turning into tears of joy. "Johnny!"
The redhead was covered with leaves and dirt, but otherwise looked unharmed. His arm still sported the reddened mark from Drac's fangs, but he did not seem to have any other wounds. Mavis immediately enveloped him in a hug, burying her head in his shoulder.
"Oh, Johnny… thankgoodnessyou're okay!"
"Of course I am, honey," he cooed, holding her close. "I wasn't the top of the track team for nothing, after all."
Mavis giggled and pulled back enough to plant a light kiss on his lips. Then her smile faded. "Dad…" she whispered quietly.
The air grew thick and silent as she began to address the most obvious problem. Mavis looked into Johnny's eyes. "What are we going to do about him?"
Johnny shrugged, for once at a loss for words. "I… I don't even know where he went."
"Well, I do."
They whipped their heads around, and saw Quinston and his aides saunter inside, a little out of breath.
"Quinston?" Mavis asked.
Quinston gestured to Harper, who was holding a slingshot. "Harper here took him down before he could bite down on Johnny, stunned him for a second after getting hit and then he shapeshifted into a bat. I think he flew off that way." The man went up to the window and pointed over to an expansive mountain range in the distance. Even though it was far, its peaks were just as visible, and the summit was a jagged black outline.
"The Carpathians," Frank said in understanding. "Oof… he could beanywhereover there. Those things go on for miles!"
"Then we better not waste any time," Johnny said resolutely. He began to march away and waved a hand over at the others. "Come on, let's go!"
"Woah, woah, woah, Johnny my man, where do you think you're going?" Quinston asked, putting a hand on the redhead's shoulder to halt him in his tracks.
"Where do you think?" Johnny asked. "We gotta go and find Drac!"
Mavis gasped. "What? Johnny, are you crazy? Dad just tried to eat you!"
"Maybe I am crazy," Johnny sighed, "but we can't just leave him over there, alone and confused. We just have to remind him who he really is. He's doesn't really want to hurt me or any of the humans."
"I know he doesn't," Mavis said, "but, honey, I just got you back. I don't want you to risk your life when you don't have to. Maybe Dad's friends can go."
She looked over to them, and they nodded in agreement. "We've gotten Drac out of some funks before, we can do it again!" Frank assured with a thumbs up.
"And I think that it might be best if I and my aides go and reassure all of the human guests," Quinston said. "I'll let 'em know that the Count will be back real soon, good as new!" He waved Harper and Levon to follow him out, and the three left. Mavis turned to Johnny.
"You should head up to your suite and rest. I'll go let your parents know that you're safe, and then I'll join in the search for Dad."
But Johnny shook his head. "Please, Mavis, take me with you. I want to talk to Drac too."
"No," Mavis said sternly. She shapeshifted into a bat and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, flying up out of the ballroom, into the stairwell, and up the flights until she got to his floor. She opened the door of his suite with her magic, and then dumped him atop the bed. "Stay here until I come back. We should have everything sorted out by then." She noticed his disappointed expression and gently caressed his face.
"It's for your own good," she whispered, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. Then she flew out the door, locking it from the outside with her magic. Johnny groaned in more disappointment as he ran up to the door and tried to jiggle it open. It was useless.
"Ugh!" he complained. He didn't want to just sit around while his zing's father was in trouble. Heneededto go help. He looked around the room, pacing as he tried to think. Then he got an idea as his eyes landed on the window. His face lit up. Had Mavis locked the window with her magic too? He approached the handles and, with not much difficulty, he was able to get it wide open.
"Yes!"he cried, and then silenced himself. He couldn't let anyone else know what he was up to. Working quickly, he grabbed all the sheets and towels that he could find in the room and bound them together at the ends with tight knots. He tied the last one to the bedpost, tugging it a couple of times to ensure that it was well secured and then threw the rest of the makeshift rope out the window. He breathed a couple of times to steady his nerves before stepping out the sill and sliding down. He held in a yelp as he descended down the side of the hotel much faster than he anticipated, and then dropped down onto the ground with a thump. He gave an "oof" as he landed, but was able to quickly recompose himself and got to his feet. Johnny brushed the dirt off his pants and gazed out to the Carpathians.
Don't worry Drac, Johnny thought.I'm coming to help.
Several miles away, Dracula slept snugly as a bat along the ceiling of a dark cave.
It was dank and eerily quiet, high up in the mountains of Transylvania where he was certain none of his friends could find him. He needed the seclusion. There was a lot on his mind as of late.
But not even rest could relax Drac. He fidgeted and twitched in his sleep, flashes of images flickering across his thoughts like ghosts. Some of them were of Mavis. Some were of his friends, and the party. But most were about Johnny, and about how quickly he nearly ended the boy's life to satiate some deep, inner thirst within him. Dracula didn't like it one bit. How could he possibly think he could get along with humans when this… this…problemwas getting in his way? For now, as Drac saw it, it would be best to just stay away. He didn't want to hurt anyone. He didn't want to be the reason that his daughter lost his zing. So he came here instead.
The vampire peeked an eye open as thunder began to rumble in the sky. From the jagged rock entrance to the cave, he saw that the sky was starting to darken with clouds, a storm bound to break through soon. He reclosed his eye again, wrapping his wings tighter around his body and sighed.
In the meantime, Johnny's climb up the mountain-face was no easy feat.
He was grateful that an Uber was able to come as quickly as it did to drive him there and drop him off at the bottom. Johnny had had plenty of experience mountain-climbing before though. None of it was ever without his equipment, though, but he thought he was well trained enough to manage it.
He huffed and breathed hard, almost slipping at least once or twice and yelping as he did so. The sweat melted the blue Franken-face-paint right off of him, and the gel that he'd put in his hair was no longer keeping it as straight up as it was before at the party.Don't look down, don't look down,he repeated to himself in his mind. As long as he didn't, he wouldn't freak out at the elevation. He knew Drac had to be up somewhere high if he wanted to be left alone. So, he wanted to reach as far up as he could before he really began his search. Still, he called out for him, just in case.
"Drac? Dracula! Where are you?"
His voice echoed off the rocks, reverberating around him like the vibration of a gong. As if in response, thunder rumbled in the darkening cloudy sky. A shiver went down Johnny's spine. He wanted to find Drac soon and get this over with so that they could all be safe and warm at the hotel. With renewed determination, he proceeded his climbing.
Little did he know that his calling had indeed awakened someone, but it wasn't Drac. Eyes began to open in the shadows, unnoticed by Johnny, and stared at the human redhead curiously. They slinked along quietly, following along behind him on his path up the mountain.
Johnny heaved himself up the rocks, growing more exhausted as he continued the arduous climb. He finally hauled himself upon the last plateau with a huff of accomplishment. He gave himself a minute to rest before he got up and began to call out again.
"Drac? Drac! Dr - whoa…"
Johnny stopped his calls when he came across a large cave entrance. It was almost missable due to the many sharp-edged stalagmites and stalactites that were there. But as he peered to look inside, he thought he could make out the shape of a hunched man just farther inside.
"Drac?" he called tentatively. Johnny carefully began to enter the cave, being extremely cautious to crawl over and around the pointy obstacles until he was clear of them. Sure enough, he hadn't been wrong. He recognized the hanging black cape on the vampire, and the impeccable straight hair that sat sleeked back on his head. Johnny breathed a sigh of relief.
"Drac, oh thank goodness I found you. Listen buddy, what the heck are you doing all the way up here? You've got a great hotel with great guests and a family who wants to see you again." Johnny tried to sound as gleeful as he could, but Drac's response was anything but enthusiastic. He didn't even bother turning.
"Go away, Johnny," he mumbled. "You shouldn't have followed me up here. This is no place for a human like you - only for a monster… like me."
Johnny scoffed. "Drac, you're no monster. Sure you're a vampire, but you'remorethan that! You're a father and a friend, the kind of guy who would go to the ends of the earth for his family!"
Dracula perked an ear and began to listen in more closely to Johnny's words.
"So what do you say, Drac? Wanna come back to the hotel?"
As quick as a flash, Dracula whipped around, red lighting overtaking his features as a hideous snarl contorted his face. Johnny gave a shrill yelp and fell back, scooting away from the Count. After a moment, the vampire calmed, his face resuming its normal paled appearance. He turned away from the shivering boy with a sigh.
"Stay away from me, Johnny," he said, warning in his voice. "It's only a matter of time before I reach my breaking point… Don't make it harder for me than it already is." Dracula sulked over to a farther corner of the cave, turned his back and sat down in a heap.
Johnny creased his brows in worry. He shakily stood, taking a few steps towards Drac but then stopped. He remembered that terrifying expression that the vampire had just had, and shuddered to think what he could have done to him if he'd taken it a step too far. Johnny didn't want to risk it right now. Instead, he figured he could let Drac cool down his emotions, and for himself to calm down from the scare too. The last thing he wanted was to misspeak because he was too frightened to remember what to say.
Defeated, the redhead crawled his way back out of the cave and sat outside on a rock, his head on his hands and his shoulders slumped.
His mind started to wander back to Mavis, when a strange sound caught his attention. It was like laughter he thought, only it was a much more sinister-like cackling. At first, he believed it was Dracula, but he realized it couldn't be. For one, the sound was not coming from the inside of the cave. It wasoutside. And, it sounded like multiple voices, not just one. His question as to who it could possibly be was answered when the creatures making the sounds presented themselves.
"Awwww…. Is the little human boy sad that he's all alone?"
Johnny stiffened at the strange voice, and the even stranger creature that it was attached to. He was not one to judge monsters by the way they looked, but this particular one already gave off very negative energy. He was a hideous thing, standing a great ten feet or so in height from what Johnny could approximate. Its head was a huge contorted mass with thick leathery ears of a bat and a large jaw that protruded an ugly pair of underbite fangs. The rest of the thing's body was mostly covered by a thick coating of deep, gray fur that lined its upper body like a mane. The monster's glowing red eyes were sunken into a ghoulish face, its mouth open just wide enough to reveal rows upon rows of rotten yellow teeth. Leathery wings hung down from its arms as he approached Johnny.
"Maybe we could keep you some company," he growled delightfully. Cackles of agreement were heard, and Johnny saw more of the foul creatures approach from all different directions, their movements dexterous and purposefully slow.
Johnny gave a nervous laugh. "Heh heh heh… are you, uh, are you friends of Drac?"
"Drac?"The creature repeated the name mockingly and then laughed, a horrible animalistic rasp. "You mean the coffin-wetter?"
The other creatures joined in the laughter, whooping with gleeful malice. Johnny began to grow uncomfortable.
"Of course not!" the creature boomed in reply. "Why would we want to befriend a guy who owns a human-hoarding hotel?"
"But humans and monsters are friends now!" Johnny insisted. "You should have seen the party, everything was going swell."
The creature growled. "Humans and monsters aren't friends," he snapped. "Humans and monsters canneverbe friends!" The other creatures began to snarl in agreement, eyeing Johnny. The redhead got to his feet and tried to maintain his cool.
"B-b-but… why not?" he managed to stammer out.
The creature narrowed its eyes. "Because humans are only good for one thing, and one thing only…" The monster grinned evilly and got close enough to Johnny so that the boy could smell his rank breath as he finished the sentence. "To eat."
Johnny couldn't take it anymore. He screamed in fear as the creature's jaws snapped toward him, catching only air, its teeth clicking. It roared in anger and ran after Johnny, the other beasts right on his tail. Johnny stumbled down the rockface, practically falling as he went, his arms and legs catching cuts and scratches as he fell. One scratch caught him particularly deep and he winced in pain grabbing his forearm. He could see blood trickling out even from under where his hand was pressed against the cut. The scent of his blood threw the creatures in a frenzy, and they began to screech even louder. Johnny cried out in panic and picked up his speed.
"DRAAAAC! HEEELLLP!"