A Undead Zing
Chapter 14 Lobby Madness
By: Major144
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Dracula and Emily quickly went to work going through the outfits in the closet and finding a costume for Johnny. They also applied some makeup to him, along with some fake scars and stitches, and added a few fake bolts to Johnny's neck. In a matter of minutes Johnny the human had been transformed into a monster similar to Frank, Eunice, and Ginger. Any monster that spotted Johnny would believe he was a fellow monster.
"You look good, now we can get you out of here." Said Dracula.
"Why do you want me to leave?" Asked Johnny looking a bit confused.
"This place and party is very exclusive invite only. You have to leave or the guest will get upset." Said Emily.
"Well what's the price for a invite?" Asked Johnny.
"You wouldn't be able to afford it." Said Dracula.
"Wait is this the gathering of the Illuminati? Or are you like the Free Masons or some kind of other secret organization or cult?" Asked Johnny.
Neither Dracula or Emily were familiar with the Illuminati or the Free Masons, but they knew about cults.
"We're none of those things." Said Dracula.
"We're just a private group of people who like to get together and dress up as monsters. Nothing more." Said Emily.
"Ok." Said Johnny.
"Let's take this bag off and then will see you out." Said Dracula taking the Johnny's bag away and putting next to some clothes.
It would be easier to get Johnny through the lobby without his bag. A fair number of the guests and staff had strong senses of smell and would immediately catch a wife of a human scent, especially from Johnny's bag since it had a lot of unwashed clothes and a sleeping bag in it. It would be tough enough just getting Johnny through the lobby, but hopefully with the makeup and both Dracula and Emily close to him, they would be able to mask and conceal his scent long enough to get him out of the Hotel.
"Will I get my bag back after I leave, it's got all my stuff in it." Said Johnny looking a bit unsure about being parted from his bag.
"You'll get your bag back." Assured Emily.
With that said the trio left the closet together. Dracula on the right, Emily on the left, and Johnny in the middle as they walked through the lobby together. A few monsters glanced at the trio and waved, but didn't pay them too much mind. All was going well, until the gourmet chef of the Hotel, the hunchback Quasimodo and his pet Esmeralda appeared before the trio.
"Bonjour, Dracula! Bonjour Emily." Greeted Quasimodo as Esmeralda ran across his arms and shoulders sniffing the air curiously.
"Hey, Sniffy. What's going on?" Said Johnny.
"Not right now, Quasimodo." Said Dracula.
"We have some other matters we need to attend to." Said Emily.
Esmeralda sniffed the air and squeaked very loudly to Quasimodo.
"What? No. Don't be absurd. It's not a human, but Monsieur Dracula and Mistress Emily." Said Quasimodo looking at Esmeralda in confusion.
"How ridiculous. It's me." Said Dracula giving a nervous chuckle.
"Esmeralda must be coming down with something if she thinks we smell like humans." Said Emily.
Quasimodo seemed to buy it the reasoning as he summoned a gargoyle waiter with a serving tray.
"Monsieur. They're deviled lizard fingers!" Said Quasimodo presenting the monster food to be served at Mavis's upcoming birthday.
Dracula had indeed ordered this particular food for the party, but he quickly came up with a way to get Quasimodo to leave.
"Deviled lizard fingers?! I asked for spleens-in-blankets!" Said Dracula pretending to be angry.
"You ugly fool! I told you, he doesn't like the lizard fingers!" Said Quasimodo glaring at the gargoyle.
"But you said..." Stuttered the gargoyle before Quasimodo grabbed the tray from him and smashed it over his head.
Dracula and Emily winced at this action as Quasimodo stormed off with Esmeralda and the gargoyle reluctantly followed him.
"Remind me to get Quasimodo to take some anger management classes." Said Dracula.
"I will. Also, we should give that gargoyle a raise or promotion." Said Emily.
"Agreed. Now let's get our visitor out of here." Said Dracula.
The couple looked around and noticed that Johnny was no longer with them! They looked around and saw that Johnny was with Elder Gutknecht studying the old servant with curiosity.
"I have to say I love your costume. It looks so real! How are you even pulling it off?" Said Johnny as he stuck his hands into between Elder Gutknecht's ribs expecting to make so form of contact with the skin of a living person wearing some kind of camouflage to hide themselves to make the costume.
Johnny felt nothing, but empty air, which greatly confused him as he drew his hand back to stare at it. It took Johnny a few seconds to quickly conclude what happened.
"You're real!" Said Johnny in shock.
"Eh?" Said Elder Gutknecht in confusion about Johnny's reaction.
Johnny scuttled away from Elder Gutknecht and whirled around to look at the various monsters as he began to realize that they weren't people in costumes, but real life monsters! The young man gasped in shock at this realization as he felt a great deal of fear go through him as he tried to get away, but kept almost colliding with one of the various guests. Dracula and Emily tried to get to Johnny before any guests or workers took notice of him, but he kept darting around the lobby. Johnny then accidentally crashed into one of the witch maids cleaning up some dust and got ahold of her magic broom. The broom took off into the air with a screaming Johnny hanging onto it. The broom flew around the air as Dracula and Emily looked on in horror.
Mavis at that moment was helping Wanda walk down some stairs to the lobby. The vampire girl was asking Wanda what were some of the best local sights to take in, when she left to explore after her birthday, when Johnny flew in on them and crashed into Mavis knocking them both down some stairs. Johnny and Mavis groaned as they pushed themselves up to their knees. The two of them were a few feet apart from each other, when they looked at one another and made eye contact taking each other in. In a split of second a flash of pink light flashed over both Johnny and Mavis's eyes. The flash of a zing. Dracula appeared between the two spreading his cape like a curtain to conceal Johnny as Emily helped Mavis to her feet.
"Mavis, honey, are you all right?" Said Dracula with concern.
"Yeah, I think so. That was weird." Said Mavis.
"Ohh... My head hurts." Said Johnny.
"Um, who is that?" Asked Mavis trying to look behind her father's cape
"Who is what? Oh! Oh, that? That is a nobody." Said Dracula with a nervous laugh.
"Seriously, Dad?" Said Mavis.
"Dad"? Asked Johnny a little hysterically poking out from behind the cape.
"Yeah, I know. Dracula's daughter. Everybody freaks out at first." Said Mavis with a casual wave.
"Dracula?!" Said Johnny a bit louder casting a nervous look at Dracula.
"Okay, we gotta go." Said Dracula as he grabbed Johnny and quickly headed out of the lobby and down one of the hallways.
Johnny was still nervous about what he had just learned about Dracula and the place being filled with real monsters, but he found himself glancing back at Mavis, who stared back at him before they vanished from sight. Emily looked at Mavis curiously as she noticed a smile on her face. Little did anyone know the zing was already working it's magic on both Johnny and Mavis and it would lead to something big.
To be continued.