Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A couple of vampires lived an unusual life for their kind in the wilderness, not too far from human settlements, but enough not to attract attention to themselves. They didn't burn villages, didn't hunt humans every night, drinking their blood dry, and had little contact with vampires and other monsters. At the end of the 19th century, both of them changed their way of life. Including because they have now become husband and wife.

Dracula could hardly believe in the existence of his bachelor life before meeting Martha. After moving away from Vlad and settling in his own small mansion, which suited him in all criteria, he traveled a lot, had fun with friends and struck fear into humans who immediately resumed their unsuccessful hunt for him. Now he called it nothing but idleness. Over the years, several generations of famous Van Helsings have changed, he has gained strength and authority and ... realized that his life is not yet complete enough.

Now everything was going as well as possible. It cannot be said that he and Martha had any definite big plans for the future. They were enjoying the moment, here and now.

The small cozy kitchen was lit only by several thin candles on two candelabra, while Martha was cooking dinner there according to a recipe from an old recipe book that she had compiled herself. She had been doing this for many years, and the time had come when she could please someone with it by cooking the most successful of them.

Martha was slicing mushrooms for the pie when Drac appeared behind her with an anticipatory excited smile. He had just returned from a small outing to get more ingredients for his wife, and now he was waiting as patiently as he could. Showing that she noticed him, Martha turned her head slightly towards him, shaking her curls.

"I'm back, my darling!" he chanted in high spirits, smoothly clasping her elbows. "What do we have now?"

"It only remains to bake, Drac," she laughed, "are you really that hungry?"

"Well, as for you, I'm always hungry..." he confessed with adoring, but in a second choked nervously. "I mean, I really want to! Uh... Better forget that!"

Martha couldn't help but smile sweetly as she squatted down to check the heat in the oven. "Honey, it's okay! You always say the right things when you say them from the bottom of your heart..."

"Oh, yeah?" Dracula clasped his lowered hands and slightly twitched his shoulders, laughing shamefacedly. "I guess you're right, yeah!"

"Why don't you invite Vlad over for dinner sometime?" Martha got up again, returning for the pie, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. His eyes widened at the question.

"Maybe not now, honeybat. He's pretty busy, you know," Drac evaded a clear answer. "And speaking of food, he's usually not that hungry, hehe!"

"Drac, let's face it, you're a grown man," she closed the oven door and tilted her head, pausing a little. "However, I suppose after our wedding he may feel a little like a third wheel."

The Count sighed, realizing that in this matter he wouldn't argue with his zing. He sat down at the table, crossed his arms on the tabletop, and clicked his tongue thoughtfully. "Yes, I'm pretty sure he does, coffin cake," he began reasoning in a raspy drawling voice, "and I love Dad, but... I have a feeling that we're going to have a fall out again."

Martha felt where his thoughts were going, and left her place at the stove, sitting down opposite and catching his confused gaze on her. "Why are you so sure? Only a month has passed since the wedding, during which we and him kept in touch only with a couple of letters, because it was a honeymoon..." She smiled in solidarity, seeing how her husband was immersed in pleasant memories, but immediately continued the topic, "Personally, I think at the ceremony you two were acting just the sweetest."

"Heh, it was expected of him..." Drac fell silent and propped his head on his hands, watching the wax dripping from the candles. Despite the fact that his love was with him, he drifted away somewhere in the memories associated with the past. Vlad didn't seem to be of such paramount importance in his current life, and their rare meetings were more awkward than welcome. Perhaps he got used to the privacy of his life with Martha too quickly. "What about our friends? Didn't you want to invite them?"

"Of course, I know we all miss each other," she took his hand and laced their fingers together. Dracula looked at her as if expecting wise thoughts. "By the way, how about inviting them all at once? I mean, your dad too."

"Oh, no, no, no, no!" he shook his head in reject, gesturing comically. "In this case, our communication will initially fail!" Martha, after a little thought, nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, it would be rude if we didn't invite either the guys or your father. Think about it, honey, life will never consist only of you and me, will it?" Martha stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "We are all alone here, and my world is truly perfect with you in it, but we must not forget about them either."

Drac looked at her with wide-open eyes, absorbing every word, and found that he was awakening longing for moments that were not yet about Martha, but infinitely precious to him. With the advent of Martha in the family, the number of such moments was only going to grow. This secluded place, in which they settled, became for them a hideaway from dangers, but not a restriction. It wasn't meant to be.

He got up from the table and took her hands in his, looking out the window. The forest around them stood as a reliable protective wall, and the growing moon shone from the sky surrounded by several stars, and everything felt like so friendly to them. This night wasn't over yet, but Dracula was already looking forward to the next one, thanks to the most gold-hearted woman next to him. "Okay, my blood orange, when should we invite Vlad and the guys? Separately."

Martha giggled softly at his clarification, and they exchanged knowing smiles. "Hmmm, why delay, right? We will send letters to Vlad and Frank before dawn to invite the guys tomorrow, and your dad the night after tomorrow."

"Oh, Martha, you're just reading my mind!" Drac cheered up and enthusiastically kissed her. "I definitely need some support from friends before I see you-know-who..."

"Draaac," she crossed her arms reproachfully and pursed a lip.

"Okay, okay, I just meant to say that sometimes he overdoes it... This dramatic entrance... " The Count held out his palms conciliatingly.

Martha glanced at the pendulum clock in the corner. Judging by them, there were ten minutes left before the end of baking the pie. She rolled up the sleeves of her dress and winked at her husband, who would have completely forgotten about food if not for the tempting smell of mushrooms and spices. "Hey, we still have time before it's ready! Would you like to choose something that the guys and Vlad like, to cook for them?"

"Um, I... don't know..." he suddenly hesitated. "Don't you already have some ideas, honeyfangs?"

She led Drac to the cooking table and confidently handed the book lying on it. "Well, maybe someone would like to try monster ball soup... It's easy enough to cook it. Just flour, vegetables, spices and, as always a little magic."

"Sounds great," he hugged her from the side and took off his cape, which restrained the movements of his hands. "You know, with your guidance, even Dad with his unique gift of burning any edible thing to ashes will be able to cook something! It will be long, though..."

Martha rolled her eyes and resumed her manipulations with slicing food. He was incorrigible, but he only changed for the better with her. And things continued to go uphill.

Chapter Text

When Drac was still very young, his waking hours fell into the hours strictly after sunset and before dawn. But growing up, he began to get enough sleep in less time and, due to age, didn't attach importance to what changes the surrounding world took at the moment of the change of time of day. What Vlad had to do for this was not to miss the time when his son learns that danger is literally everywhere.

Dracula was just under three years old, and like all children at his age, he had an irritating habit of running away from his father at the most inopportune moments...

"Dracula? Dracula! Where have you gone again?! You haven't drunk your blood dose yet!"

The playful nature of the little vampire prompted him to hide away from his father's insistent demands. Drac already knew perfectly well why he needed to drink blood, but he didn't always like the taste of it, which in turn was alarming Vlad.

He clambered a little awkwardly up the steps leading in the opposite direction from the family quarters and, giggling, sneaked into one of the doors up there. At the same time, a red haze flashed at the foot of the stairs, forming the figure of drowsy Vlad with a cup with blood in his hand.

"My boooy... I'm coming for youuu..." he yawned and slowly began to follow after him, throwing his cape over the crease of his elbow. In fact, it was not so difficult to catch up the kid, but it infuriated him sometimes.

Once in one of the rooms that occasionally functioned as guest rooms, Drac looked around for suitable hiding places. The meager interior left him virtually no choice but the space under the bed, the canopy and the beams under the ceiling. The boy sighed faintly, scratched his nose and just wanted to climb onto the canopy, which was hanging deeply over the bed, when something else caught his attention. Between the wall and the thick curtain, an unusually bright and warm light pervaded into the room, unlike the light from the object called the moon.

Dracula was still poorly drawing conclusions and remembering, but he managed to figure out that this was something he had never seen before. He jumped back to the floor and stomped a little uncertainly towards the light source, driven by curiosity. His clear blue eyes, looking at this light, reflexively squinted, and Drac tried to look sideways, but didn't stop. The strip of light already penetrated the entire room space and rested against the wall. The kid was separated by it from the side where the door was located.

Drac had already stretched out his little hand to place it directly into the rays of light with mouth open in amazement, but was stopped by a sharp and pleading shout.

"No! Don't do this, baby!"

He reacted joyfully to Vlad's arrival and lowered his hand, distracted by his call. "Why, Dada? Where did this come fwom?"

Vlad smiled bitterly, took a deep breath and swung forward, heading straight for his son through the veil of light. As soon as his body came into contact with the yellowish glow, Drac covered his ears from the vile sizzling sound and saw how Vlad himself and the clothes on him slowly smoked. The adult vampire made every effort not to shriek with pain inflicted on him and not to scare his child. But still Dracula was at a loss and looked with despair at Vlad, who left the lighted area. Regeneration from damage came into play as expected, and he knelt down in front of his son, reassuringly holding out his open palm to him. The boy let out a sob before putting his tiny hand on dad's long fingers.

"...Daddy?" Drac realized that his voice was almost gone. "What happened to you?"

"It's called the sun, dear," Vlad explained affectionately, picking him up in his arms and moving away to a safe dark corner, "The same huge glowing thing in the sky as the moon... Only you and me and all the other vampires can die from it."

"Die?" The little vampire repeated the word, batting his eyes. "But why?"

"This is one of our differences from everyone else. If I go out into the sunlight now, at these hours, I will burn to ashes in just a moment..." He touched the disappearing red spot on his cheekbone. "Now you've seen how it starts."

Drac's eyes watered and he gripped his father's shirt tightly. "Dad, don't die anymore! It huwts you, doesn't it?"

"It really hurts, trust my word," Vlad nodded, stroking his head, "But son, I think you should try to make sure..."

"No!" Dracula squealed in protest, clutching even harder. "Sun is bad, Dad!"

Vlad rolled his eyes imperceptibly. He remembered perfectly well how he had been taught the same thing, given a chance to be convinced of the insidiousness and ruthlessness of the sun's rays. The only difference was that he happened to be in the sun completely exposed to the light.

"Come on, Drac," he approached the sunlit area and resolutely stretched out his hand, preparing to touch the danger again, "I'll do it with you!"

"Am I really not gonna die?" The boy furrowed his little brows in disbelief.

"Nah, you'll just get burned a little, it'll heal quickly," Vlad promised. "This has happened to me many times in my long seven hundreds, haha! Ready?"

"I dunno..." Drac squeezed his eyes shut and also held out his hand. Again he heard the same hiss when his father brought him closer, and then felt burning pain on the skin, previously unknown to him, and immediately pulled his hand away with a grimace of displeasure. "Ouch! Don't like that!"

Vlad winked at him, removing his burned hand after him, and winced. "Terrible, isn't it? This is life, son..."

Drac examined the harmed arm with tears in his eyes and stared at the window with hostility. "When the sun gonna be gone, Dad?! I hate it!"

"Not soon yet, kid. It will always shine during the day, brightly or not, depends on the weather. But whatever, we always sleep during the day. Everyone needs the sun to shine at the right time, even us."

"But how 'bout the moon?" Drac objected.

"It sounds silly, but the moon is only good for shining," Vlad sighed. "But the sun gives life to everyone who's around. Plants, animals and... humans. And humans are our food. Everything in this world is made for everyone and is not so bad as it seems."

"Whoa..." Drac, thinking within the limits of his childish understanding, even forgot about the hand. "It means... It's okay, huh?"

"Of course!" The count laughed and covered his son with the cape, intending to pass through the deadly rays again. "It will take many more years, and you'll know better what is what."

"Are you gonna burn again?" Dracula poked his head out from under cover.

"For you, I'm ready to do it anytime, honeybat."

Vlad had got a ton more questions from Drac before his boy dozed off in his little coffin next to his.

Chapter Text

"Modern vampires. How to become them?"

That's exactly what the headline of the article among other news read. The word 'vampires' caught Drac's attention, as in all the past times when he got online. The vampire awkwardly moved the computer mouse (he still didn't understand the comparison with real mice) over the surface of the table and stopped the cursor on the link he was interested in.

At first glance, it didn't make sense. That's why Dracula wanted to check it out. But before going to the site, it seemed necessary for him to show this to his expert on modernity.

"Jonathan! I have an emergency!" he called out, along with this demanding tapping his foot on the floor. With such words, he always called Johnny to him when it was a problem related to gadgets and the Worldwide Web. Hearing his father-in-law's voice from the next room, a few seconds later Johnny cheerfully stomped into the bedroom, meeting Drac's puzzled look with a relaxed smile.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked, heading to the Count and leaning on the chair's back.

Dracula looked at him shrewdly, then nodded at the monitor. "Do you think this is another batshit or something useful?"

"Oh, that sounds intriguing..." Johnny studied the screen carefully. "Well, the only way to find out is to click!" As Drac was mentally swimming in doubt, the guy's hand gently grabbed the mouse from him and they went to the page with the text itself.

"If you're reading this, then you're more likely to be a vampire. A vampire who was born long before the 21st century and before changing relationships with humans..."

"By the way, I haven't ask, when were you born?" Johnny intervened in Dracula's comprehension of the words, at the moment when the vampire was already beginning to fall his face skeptically.

"In 1477!" A third voice readily interjected from the room from which Jonathan had recently left.

"Dad! I know you can hear perfectly well, but it's rude to eavesdrop!" Drac turned around and shouted somewhere at the ceiling to scold him.

"Thanks, Vlad!" The former human replied the opposite way.

"No problem, kid!"

"Wow, that's not such an old age for vampires, is it?" Johnny pulled up a chair and sat down next to Drac, impatiently waiting for the reading to resume.

"Yeah, he's still a teeny-weeny baby!"

"Okay, Dad, THANK YOU!" Dracula rapped out, losing patience, and hunched over with a growl. His attention returned to the article.

"You have noticed that scientific and technological progress is gaining momentum. And, like everyone else, you need to keep up with the times. So first of all, be aware!"

"Aware?" Drac repeated with bewilderment. "It sounds like as if humans are going to start hunting us again..."

"No, Drac, it's just that the author means to follow the latest changes!" Johnny corrected him, trying to encourage. Seeing the vampire's visibly deteriorating mood, he cautiously shut his mouth.

"Oh, come on!" Drac threw up his hands emotionally. "They want me to spend whole nights in front of the TV and stick to my smartphone, and this is called keeping up with the times. I have a job to do, my dear Jonathan!"

Johnny ruffled his shock of red hair, thinking. Count Dracula had been getting along with the latest human inventions for almost ten years, but the problem was that he never got used to their benefits. Stubbornness and long isolation from the outside world affected.

Mavis was the only one of the hotel residents who knew her father inside and out. From her, Johnny learned that Dracula treated with some contempt the fact that the first hearse was brought to the hotel - the one of many with which the transfer of guests was being carried out now. He still didn't have the skills of perfect driving, but after about thirty years, he honestly admitted that the hotel's service was improving with the advent of at least some kind of fleet. Drac considered the hotel's stuff to be absolutely perfect, until the first human appeared, and advanced human things followed him.

"Yeah, it's the main problem for modern humans, mostly..." Sighing, Johnny nodded and turned his gaze to the window. "But I wouldn't say that it affected me much, because the major point in traveling is to enjoy new places and get positive impressions. But still, look at this!"

He stormed out of the room, gladly using his vampire speed, and returned clutching his phone. Almost bumping into the motionless vampire, he unceremoniously climbed onto his lap and showed the gadget screen with glowing grin.

"What's happening, Johnny?" Dracula was somewhat taken aback, but couldn't resist a chuckle of affection to the redhead's boyish behaviour.

"Here, I found a funny video and wanted to show you!" Drac didn't even have time to manage as Johnny had already tapped on the on button. For fifteen seconds, the Count watched with mixed feelings as a vampire seeming a bit older than him jumped on the spot from surprise because of a phone buzzing somewhere in his pocket, while the outrageous inscription "Second day with the phone: all good" was emblazoned on the top.

"Poor fellow. How, you say, to complain about mocking stuff here?" Drac frowned almost seriously and pulled a clawed finger towards his son-in-law's thing. In response, the young man giggled at his attitude to the video being shown and put his hand on his shoulder.

"He's fine, dude, relax," Jonathan kindly assured as the elder vampire was massaging temples. "No one will prove to you that it's not kinda stupid. I just wanted you to know that you're not the only one who's having a tough adaptation."

Dracula was meditating melancholically over the computer and the music speakers standing on the sides. They were more sympathetic to him than a phone or tablet, since they could emit all kinds of music from classical to reggae. In this, humans were undoubtedly great.

"I don't know, dear... Maybe I'm really behind the times," he sincerely voiced his thoughts. "And I should see the world. Dad had already hinted several times that it's time to see other vampires and return to the society... I used to be ready to wring his neck for it, though."

Johnny gulped, remembering Drac's hostile attitude against Vlad just a few years ago, but made an effort to smile sympathetically. "We're always happy to help you with this. Now, I'd like to introduce you to one app that your dad and Mavis already have! It's developed specifically for vampires!"

"Huh?" Drac craned his neck in interest. These bold statements of Johnny continued to give him anxiety even years later. "What is it supposed to be? A test of knowledge of youth human slang?"

Jonathan shook his head and used the phone again, this time jumping off the Count's lap and showing him the app's interface from behind.

"The degree of sunlight power?" He studied the sun icon questioningly and glanced at his exultant son-in-law. "How does it work?"

"It helps to monitor the sunrise and sunset, as well as how dangerous the rays are at different times!" he said proudly. "You can even set a warning alarm there. What do you say?"

"Sounds helpful..." the vampire concluded thoughtfully. "At least it's more helpful than wearing a wide-brimmed hat."

The redhead bit his lip so as not to yelp from his approval. Dracula's opinion has been an authority for him since they met. "You're already making progress in familiarizing yourself with modern reality, you cannot do otherwise!"

"Why, my boy?"

"Because you live next to modern vampires, man."

Drac grinned and closed the website with the article. Perhaps he could deal with all these new things on his own, regardless of instructions and advice. His need for learning was just sleeping somewhere deep in his soul.

Chapter Text

The leaves rustled and broke under the feet of the laughing woman in a beige wool coat. She hurried as fast as her strength would allow, but her pursuer was faster. He jumped on her, but the woman stayed on her feet and deftly intercepted him, facing his joyful expression.

"Mr. Impaler, even if I'm able to support your weight, it does not mean that you need to take advantage of it!" Holding him by the waist, she spun around a couple of times, causing the man to laugh with satisfaction, and still put him on the ground.

Drac scratched his nose and sneezed, looking at his wife with mischief. "I know you're strong!"

Ericka looked away, flattered. Her fiance wasn't lying, and he liked to remind her of her virtues as a human. Except Jonathan, he had never interacted with humans so closely and considered Ericka to be someone beyond the usual human being. But even so, Dracula understood her weaknesses and did everything possible to protect her. He insisted that she dress warmly on this autumn night, and even tried to give her a flashlight so that she could see better in the dark, but Ericka politely refused the latter. She trusted his guidance completely.

"By the way, where did you lead us?" she asked, getting out of his answering grip, and tightened a bluish scarf around her neck, which loosed after running. "I mean, I love this forest, even though it's not like that truly creepy one near the hotel, but... Why did you say you want to show me it so much, honeyfangs?"

"Well... I was sure that," Drac shared, "you're going to miss the big water. And look where we're standing now!"

He gently turned his beloved so that she could see what was behind. The couple stood on a high ledge overlooking a vast dark-water lake. To the left was a mountain range, and from the side from where they came out, there was a wall of coniferous and deciduous forest, which made it look like a mixture of dark green paint and several shades of yellow and red from above. The tops of the trees and their clothes were ruffled by the beginning breeze. It was the only thing that kept Ericka breathing, because she was as if frozen in time, looking at the views of nature.

"Since I was here for the first time, almost nothing has changed," Dracula said quietly, coming out ahead of her, and sat on the edge, dangling his legs into the air abyss. "And every time I show up here, it feels like the first one."

Being in her dazed state, Ericka joined him, and he cautiously hugged her from the side to prevent at least a single chance of her falling, though it was very unlikely. "It's not good to hide such a miracle from others, Count..." the woman teased him in a voice faint from stunning.

"Oh-ho-ho, I've never hide it, my coffin cake," Drac laughed, pleased with her impression, "Occasionally I personally take people here on excursions when I have time for it. And they are satisfied afterwards."

"I wouldn't have thought that you were doing this, with all your business and troublesome..." Ericka sniffed the crisp air, exhaled through her slightly open mouth, leaving a cloud of steam after that, and grinned. Dracula jokingly copied after her.

"I don't wanna brag, but I'm one of the few who knows perfectly well the best local spots and, moreover, completely free beauties that I don't mind showing to tourists," the Count puffed out his chest a little, causing Ericka to giggle, "They are only required to behave appropriately."

"You definitely won't see anything like this in the open ocean," she shook her head with a shadow of regret in her eyes. Despite the fact that living on the land during her life couldn't be avoided, it lasted no longer than a couple of weeks in a time, and Ericka didn't have enough time to enjoy the world around her between her diligent training.

"But still, any reservoirs are beautiful in their own way," the man added to her words. "And I've never seen such a boundless starry sky as that time on the cruise..." He smiled dreamily and pulled Ericka closer while they listened to each other's breathing in complete silence. But in his head, a wonderful plan was ready and still waiting to come true.

"Ericka," he carefully poked his finger on her shoulder a couple of times, continuing his speech, "I hate to interrupt our rest here, but I have something else for you..."

"What is it?” She looked into his eyes with a curious smile.

“Oh, um, we need to go down first!” Draс fussed nervously, preparing to offer her something even more breathtaking.

“Oh my...” Ericka groaned, but got to her feet and stretched. She wasn’t annoyed, but rather a little disappointed with the new exhausting hike. "Going downhill again…"

The Count rose more willingly from his spot, bursting with the desire to cheer her up with another way of descent. He put his arm around her from behind with a tricky grin. “I have a much better idea! I’ve got you.”

“Yeah, I know, hon...” Ericka smiled sweetly, mistaking it for words of affection, but she didn’t have time to finish the thought. Dracula suddenly pressed her back to his chest, completely taking over her body, and, standing on the very edge of the ledge, fell down like a stone. “Wait whaaaaaaaa!...”

Ericka has never been afraid of heights, but... Who won’t scream when they’re pushed or dragged into the abyss without warning? Unless it’s a person who’s not used to such falls... Drac was confidently falling down, holding his stunned lover until they approached the surface of the water. He let out an innocent-sounding laugh as his black-haired top was a centimeter from the water, and froze in this position for a couple of seconds, until Ericka’s ragged breathing made them turn over. The woman was recovering her breath, unable to say anything.

“I’m sorry,” he buried his forehead in the warm nape of her neck, where the heartbeat could be heard. “I’ve heard about some kind of extreme entertainment where you people jump from a great height upside down, and since height is not new to you, my love, I thought you’d like the feeling!”

“Bungee jumping, you mean?” Ericka guessed. She seemed to come to her senses after their own jump and even snorted at this comparison.

“Yes, yes, this beegee...! bengie... boogie... whatever...” the man agreed, meanwhile turning into a bat and clinging to Ericka’s coat collar to carry her. “Are you sure you weren’t scared, Eri?”

“Well, now I know about what to expect when you start a relationship with a vampire,” she replied, slightly tucking her legs as they flew over the cold, inhospitable water of the lake. “Woohoo!”

"Sooo, now look straight ahead!" Dracula exclaimed and suspended his flight, continuing to flap his wings.

Ericka followed and slightly raised her head. Just a few meters away from them was the shore, or rather a miniature strip of sandy beach, on which waves lazily rolled without a single drop of foam. Beyond the sand, began the grassy land and the forest. At the very edge of the water, a small wooden boat was tied with a rope around a stone, in which only a couple of people could fit.

"Is that for us?" Ericka asked uncertainly, looking up at the bat. Drac hummed affirmatively.

Chapter Text

Ericka had already got into the boat on a soft seat specially laid by her caring partner before Drac abruptly pushed them away from the shore and jumped in himself. He sat down in his seat, taking the oars, and looked at Ericka, making sure that it was time to sail.

"Uh, you know, I'm not really good at rowing," he admitted, awkwardly making the first stroke. "And you? Ahh, why am I asking, you're a pro, my blood orange!"

Ericka got a little confused, pulling her coat tighter around her, and glanced at Dracula's cape with a little envy. It must has been able to give more heat... "Yes, that's right. But I haven't done this for a long time..."

"Well, now you know a great place to practice!" he added, speeding up.

The woman noticed that they were far enough from the shore, but it was still a long way to the middle of the lake. She ran her fingertips over the water, immediately pulling back and shaking her hand from the drops of water, which felt unbearably icy. Her date shrugged his shoulders, chuckling. "No one will enter such water on their own... But fortunately, we have a boat at the moment, and the water is quite warm in July."

"Can you tell me more about this place?" Ericka requested, propping her head with her hands, there was sincere interest in her bright eyes. Drac, being in the darkness, which limited only her vision, could see it like no one else.

"If you insist..." he grinned and stopped the boat. "Since the opening of our hotel, my friends and I have often come here... Just to take a walk, talk about something or go fishing... There are piranhas here, by the way." Dracula made a playfully creepy grimace.

"What?" Ericka blinked, lifting her shoulders a little. "How did they end up here??"

"Who knows," Drac spread his hands, "but what difference does it make if they can be caught and cooked, right?" The woman forced a responsive smile, shivering inside. No matter how brave she was, these predatory fish had a bad reputation. But judging by the vampire's optimism, it has long been commonplace for him.

"Drac?" Ericka called out a little shyly. "How do you see me?"

"You're perfect and irresistible!" Drac summed it up decisively, rocking the boat a little with his movements. "I could go on, but we don't have much time this night, hehe..."

"Draaac! No, stop it!" Laughing, she scooped up some water with her hand and splashed it into him. "I meant your vampire vision."

"Oh, that?" The Count smiled and crossed his legs. "Vampires are nocturnal creatures, so we can see in the night almost as well as humans during the day. Do you know what a day looks like when it's cloudy and the sun's hiding behind clouds?" She nodded, and he continued his explanation. "So, the night is just a cloudy day... But a little bit better!" he expressed with his thumb and forefinger this 'little bit'. "And I see your every feature clearly, that's why I know how beautiful my zing is..."

"Haven't I already told you that you're incredible?" Ericka gave him a flirtatious sideways glance.

"Well, I don't mind being told that multiple times," Dracula assumed a majestic pose, folding his hands on his knee. While he was inwardly triumphant over her compliment with his eyes closed, Ericka plucked up the courage to move on his seat and took his hand, kissing the back. Sometimes, such displays of tenderness were cherished more than respectful words and seductive gestures. And for Ericka as a person actually bad at flirting, it was closer.

"Wait a minute, you must be cold?" Drac quickly roused himself and took the woman's hands in his own. She didn't wear gloves for their walk. "Oh, no, no, no, that won't do, Ericka, I'll get some hot tea!"

"Tea?" she was surprised again.

Dracula stood up and turned his face somewhere to the side. "It's simple. Now, without leaving our boat, I'll peek into the hotel kitchen and check how the tea will be ready." Immediately, his eyes lit up with blue and seemed to focus on something that Ericka couldn't see. She realized that he was looking in the direction of the hotel, and so it was.

The path of his vision ran through the mountains and wooded hills, then inside the hotel and all the way to the kitchen in its bowels. There, the cooks were preparing for the upcoming dinner with might and main. On one of the tables in several rows were glasses of tea, which were supposed to be sent as personal orders. Drac chose two of them.

"And now, voila!" He sat down and slightly spread his arms, around which a bluish smoke flowed, and tea glasses followed. "We have tea."

"Magic..." Ericka commented, thanking the vampire and sipping a warming drink, apparently with spices added there. "I never dreamed that I would be sitting, well, in a boat in the middle of a lake with a man who would deliver tea to me literally from another place in a matter of seconds..."

"Oh, hehe, I'll surprise you with a lot of things," Drac waved away in embarrassment. "Remains to be seen!"

"Drac!" Ericka giggled and dipped her left hand into the lake again to splash water on Dracula as he was making her blush again. "Here ya go!"

"Ow!" He grimaced, joining in her fun.

"Ugh, I'm starting to regret that I decided not to wear gloves..." Ericka rubbed her hands together to warm them, and inadvertently glanced at the left hand. Her mindless gaze turned to panic one when she turned it to the ring finger. "Dang it! My engagement ring!!"

Drac shuddered, looking around her and the boat with concern. "Did you lose it, honeybat?"

"I'm sorry... Sorry, Drac, I..." She shrank back, hugging herself guiltily. Most of all, she now wanted to fall into the ground and there incessantly reproach herself for carelessness. In the water, the ring spider could easily just slip off.

"I'll get it!"

Ericka gasped at the powerful push on the boat as the vampire without hesitation rushed into the water a distance away so as not to spray her with cold water. She frowned and clung to the side of the boat, feeling annoyed. "Drac, come back now, it's not your fault!"

Her demand didn't affect anything. Dracula dived, and perhaps under the water he understood her words with his vampire hearing, but his stubbornness wouldn't have allowed him to return without the lost ring. Ericka could only guess how long it would take him to find it.

Being alone on the boat felt different than being in the Count's company. Ericka felt uncomfortable, and she unbuttoned her coat to cover herself with it, and wrapped her head with the scarf. Imagining how Dracula should've been freeze in the lake water, she shivered even more. Strange vibrations suddenly began on the surface, and Ericka straightened hopefully, hopelessly trying to look out for her fiance. She had no idea how much time had passed, her phone was left at the hotel because of her thrill for the date. But her desire to sink after him, despite how reckless it sounded, was growing.

Behind her, a dark silhouette silently floated out from under the water. His eyes flashed slyly, and he ducked back to move closer to the boat, where Ericka was still sitting huddled and shaking with cold and anxiety. Five graceful fingers curled and clung to the side of the boat, creating a quiet screech. And it was a moment to announce the positive news.

"Fo-fo-fo-found it!!"

"AAAGHH!"

Ericka leaped at this exclamation, turning around and uttering a short cry. Years of upbringing by her great-grandfather led to the fact that she couldn't afford to scream for a long time, according to Van Helsing's mind, this was a sign of cowardice. "Drac, what was that just now?!"

Dracula, all wet, with streams flowing from his face and clothes, fell awkwardly onto the boat. Next, he dragged his cape, which had been drifting peacefully on the water all this time. Ericka stared at him, her mouth open in indignation, until he approached, holding out an open palm, on which lay soaked, but completely unharmed ring spider with a ruby on its back.

"This little guy almost swam away from me, but I managed to find him," Drac said, returning the spider to its rightful place. "I'm sorry, Ericka, but I couldn't help but return you the ring! It's... my present to you."

"But... The water is so icy!" She grimaced and took his hands. "Come on, Drac, I know you're a mighty vampire and bleh bleh bleh, but as Mavis has told me, you all have a risk of getting sick."

"Ha! I don't say bleh bleh bleh, you do!" Dracula swaggered his finger up.

"Yes, yes, you've never said that, Mr. Big Shot, now sit down and finish your tea till it's totally cold..." Ericka sighed, sat him down and grabbed the oars. "We're heading for the shore."

"Of course, honeybat," he dutifully agreed. "Can we make a fire to warm up before going to the hotel?"

"Hmm, that's a good thought," Ericka smiled slightly, "it's a pity we wouldn't do it right on the boat..."

"Why, I think that..." Drac began. The stern look of his beloved woman made him calm down. He was really overdoing things. But Ericka couldn't blame him for his spirited behavior either. After all, their relationship was just beginning.

Chapter Text

This night was considered the second time after many years when Drac went to his father for his own reasons, and not for an obligation. He still felt some kind of awkwardness and stiffness when being around his father, but it cannot be said that Vlad didn't. Many things pushed for the closer ties: final mutual forgiveness for past wrongs, Vlad's frequent appearances at the hotel after Dennis' significant 5th birthday, and finally, friendship with Johnny. However, this time Dracula wasn't encouraged by something extraneous. He quietly took a vacant hearse, leaving only a small note for the family about his intention, and left the hotel to his native and nostalgic destination.

Driving the car as always with meticulous care, Drac internally showered curses on the annoying GPS-navigator. A few years ago, he could not imagine that a pathetic electronic device could point him in the direction he thought he knew better. The Count would gladly shut it down, but he forgot how to do it, so there was a commanding hoarse voice coming from his phone in the holder.

"Left turn is just in two hundred meters away, you unskilled fool! Watch the road!"

"I know, I know! May you shut the hell up!" Immersed in thoughts about the meeting with his father, Drac scowled and tightened his grip on the steering wheel and tuned in to the upcoming turn on the winding road.

The trip time flew by unnoticed, and the hearse slowed down before entering the bridge, which remained the last barrier to the ancestral castle of the Impalers, Sárkány, unofficially once called the Dragon Fortress. Dracula, even being on edge, took a deep breath, smiled fondly, looking at his very first home from afar, and mentally wished that Vlad was in a right mood to receive him.

After crossing the bridge, he had to stop the car to manually open the high and narrow wrought-iron gates. Touching them, he felt the familiar burning cold and chuckled, "Well, nothing has changed." And such a simple getting inside testified that the host was there.

The front courtyard met him deserted. Back in years, Drac, looking out from the main balcony with his father, constantly saw several carriages standing there. Now, the only thing that changed near the entrance was a discreet recess at the very foundation, closed with something similar to a garage lifting gate. The first time, his concentration on another matter didn't let him notice it. Drac restrained himself from any surprise, being satisfied with explanations that he hadn't been here for more than a century, and it was not for him to criticize the place to which he no longer belonged.

Deciding that delays only made the task more difficult, he moved straight to the door. Dracula raised his fist over it according to an old teen habit revived in his memory, but the more rational option was literally to his left. Jonathan called this thing 'an entry phone'.

At least this little box with three hollow stripes, a large silver button and and a convex translucent hemisphere resembled an entry phone. The Count studied the object a little more, and then, intrigued, placed his finger on the button and pressed to a characteristic click sound.

The wait didn't take long, and the intercom box hissed like noise on the radio, and then a voice answered the call, also distorted due to indirect sound.

"What do you need?" the voice asked sternly and briskly.

"It's Dracula. Get the door for me, please." Drac curled his lips in displeasure.

A red dot flashed on the camera, and a tired gasp sounded in the speaker. "Oh, it's you, Dracula... Boss didn't tell me you were about to come."

"I didn't warn him, Jen. Is Dad busy?"

"I think not, and even more so for you. Okay, come on in." The speaker turned off, and the doors slowly swung open as much as it was enough for Dracula to get inside.

Dracula was scurrying through the corridors as a bat, following the shortest way to Vlad's office. His old man, as he had ever known, never changed the location of the room he usually worked in, no matter what kind of job it was. And this was the first supposed place where he could be, besides the bedroom.

He knocked on the door with a faint sinking of the heart, sincerely hoping that things wouldn't go awry if their quarrelsome parts of characters suddenly encounter.

"Come in, Jen, but mind you, I still don't wanna coffee, even here!"

This further convinced Dracula that his father would really be surprised by his arrival. He laughed and replied, "It's me, Dad! I swear, I definitely don't have coffee!"

Although the door was not actually locked, Drac didn't even have time to pull the handle, as in a few steps Vlad got to the door and opened it himself. Drac found him in his usual clothes, without the cape and for the first time in patent leather shoes instead of red Converse sneakers. Such a surprise visibly excited and even dismayed him, but when he saw his son's disposition, he blandly bowed his head and, as it seemed, wanted to give his hand, but for some reason refrained.

"Hey, honeybat..."

"Um... May I still come in?" Drac pointed with an open palm inside the office.

"Sure, come in soon!" Vlad made the way for him. "It's just I didn't think you'd come tonight. But I've been waiting for you, to be honest..."

"Yeah?" Dracula arched an eyebrow. He passed by, spotting with interest the new objects in the room. Despite Vlad's dislike of cleaning, the bookcases and books in them glistened with cleanliness, there was a closed laptop on the russet-colour desktop and several stacks of notebooks and papers surrounded it. The office-style chair was upholstered in black leather and red elements. Drac thought to himself that his and his father's workspaces were similar in some way. At the very least, no rampage and brightness in the spirit of Johnny couldn't be allowed here.

"Yes," Vlad confirmed, pulling out a visitor's chair for him. "By the way, Jen knows that you came, and he didn't even tell me... Ha, what a mean thing," he sank into his seat, grinning and rolling his eyes.

"How did you...?" Drac paused before sitting down, and then pursed his lips shrewdly. "Oh. That thing at your entrance?"

"Ah, you mean the intercom..." Vlad nodded. "That's right, Drac, it was installed only three days ago, and as you may have realized, we really like it. A convenient thing. What?" He noticed that Drac narrowed his eyes skeptically.

"I don't understand, Dad. Are you really okay with all this?"

"Well, why not? If we eat mice and spiders, it doesn't make us animals. If we use human inventions, it doesn't make us humans!" he exclaimed. "We are more than that."

"I never imagined you like this..." Drac muttered thoughtfully. "And yet, how do you feel about the humans themselves? About everyone except our Johnny and Ericka."

"I try not to think about them," Vlad frowned, something similar to disgust for the thoughts appeared in his eyes. "We will never become close to them, but we must monitor their behavior to prevent problems for us. You won't find anyone I know who will say to you, "Oh my, I love humans!" There's nothing to love them all for, really..."

"Yes, yes, it... makes sense. I'm not so willing to communicate with them at the hotel, but now I have nothing against their staying there. As for Johnny and Ericka, they..." Drac smiled. "They are also something more than all of the other humans... Because, I guess, love is never wrong."

"It sure is, son," he moved his eyes dreamily.

"Daddy?" Dracula decided to address him more kindly, so as not to cause misunderstanding of the meaning of his following words. "You know, despite all the friction between us and the fact that you haven't been honest with me at times... I can't complain about how you were upbringing me and tried to be the best father." Vlad listened attentively, and the touched heart beat a couple of times in his chest. "But for the whole time, you or my sister barely mentioned Mom. I know she was, of course. She exists out there, isn't she?"

Vlad, indeed, always tried to avoid such a conversation. Drac didn't have the opportunity to remember his mother, having lost her in four months old, and his father talked about her only in lyrical fragments that didn't carry a full meaning. He even once showed her portrait when the boy was not even twenty years old, which did not give much hope of preserving that in memory. Drac had hoped to learn more from his only sister, but Lydia didn't know much either. But Vlad couldn't escape it from his grown-up son, because this would mean destroying all previous efforts to make up.

Vlad got up heavily and went to the window, gathering his thoughts. He looked at his son with a sense of guilt. "I really don't know what's with her now. But most likely, she is alive and somewhere very far away from here... From me. I'm telling ya, this woman is too tough to die, hehe. However, so are you, my dear."

"So what happened anyway? Why is she gone?" Drac straightened his back expectantly.

"The night she disappeared, I didn't find any note or anything like that..." Vlad confessed, hugging himself. "But I wasn't so attentive to her, especially after you were born. And she had quite reasonable grounds to think that... that I cheated on her."

"Did you really cheat on her?" Dracula snorted accusingly.

"I mean, n-not literally..." Vlad nervously drummed his fingers on the windowsill. "But I'm sure that if you hadn't been born, I would have acted treacherously and would have found full-fledged pleasure in one of my old pals. Son, for four years I was disappointed in myself and disgraced in front of my wife, but it wasn't her fault that the pregnancy didn't come. It's because I was careless and unprepared for the future."

"Okay, did you give her a real reason for jealousy after all?" Drac crossed his arms. Vlad nodded, ashamed, secretly glad that his son wasn't starting to blindly hate him. "And me and Lydia? She left us, her children!"

"Drac, I can't excuse her for that. Your mother was always sure that I would simply die of grief if you two were taken away from me..." he sighed abruptly. "And that's right. It cannot be argued that leaving me, while abandoning the children at the same time, was the right decision, and this is on her. But I still love her. I'm… afraid our chances of crossing paths with her are already quite small." He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, swallowing the bitterness that had come over him. Daring to look at Dracula again, Vlad realized that he was looking at something on the desk.

"You have... my birth certificate? Or... what is it?" Drac looked confused, twirling a durable old parchment in his hands. "I didn't think I had one."

"As you understand, I was busy reviewing old documents and stuff. And I decided to check on it," Vlad breathed. "I wrote all this myself the night you were born, because it was important. Never mind all your titles, hehe, sorry..."

Draс pointedly rolled his eyes and put down the certificate. He wished to get some more hidden information from his father. "What was she like?"

"First of all, she was much more honest and smarter than me... A bigger adventurer than your Mavis. And of course she was the most gorgeous and beautiful woman I've ever known. Mavis is somewhat similar to her, including in appearance. But her hair... So long and thick... Longer than Lydia's now. She was usually tying her hair back, but it suited her even more. Wait, but why am I talking about this?" Vlad stopped and looked at his son in bewilderment. "You like ladies with short hairstyles, right?"

He laughed while Drac briefly pouted.

"And she could have done the right thing when it came to your fangs," Vlad looked away again. "I screwed up."

"Let me make it clear," Drac got up and, with his hands behind his back, smoothly slipped closer to the window, standing in front of Vlad, "the reasons for late-fanging may be that the child is not a full vampire, or...?"

"Or the age and poor reproductive health of the parents..." Vlad added blamefully.

"Well, I guess you weren't aware then," Dracula concluded condescendingly. He sat down next to Vlad, holding his shoulder supportively. "I can advise you to read more scientific books in the future."

"Being your father in your first years, I haven't yet been able to truly appreciate that I have you," he clasped his hand and sincerely smiled with respect. "Now I understand that with all my freaking deeds, fate still gave me you. The biggest honor for me is that we are blood, Drac."

"You definitely shouldn't have too many kids in your life, Dad," Drac chuckled, leaning his head on his shoulder. "It's a nervous job..."

"It was all worth it," Vlad said with confidence.

Dracula didn't have a mother figure, but he fully felt that he was needed and loved. After 124 years, he was ready to come back here again and again to make up for the lack of attention from one of the most important people in his life. However, the past of this family and this place was in no hurry to open up to him completely.

Chapter Text

Life was good. Vlad tried to think in such a way as not to scare away the happiness he got by returning to his family this summer. His son treated him coldly and almost unrelatedly, but that was just the beginning. Vlad loved him and his family too much to give up.

After Hotel Transylvania became his first most important residence, and he visited his castle no more than once a week, trusting it his assistant, the vampire didn't forget about another location. His cave. The one with the rough stone throne and the steps to it, the unfriendly sharp rocks at the entrance and inside, and whuch is chillingly cold, yeah... The place that would never have been his home in his normal life. Nevertheless, he admitted that in some way he recklessly hooked on it.

Leaving the hotel and Johnny, whom he had been entertaining with stories all the passing day, Vlad hunched over and exhaled with long-awaited relief. That funny human boy with dynamic brown eyes and red hair was unbelievably persistent. But even Johnny obediently and respectfully quieted down when the authoritative for him man seriously announced that he needed to leave on business, and let Vlad go without any problems when the real night time began.

He did plan to leave on business, but not those that were his real job. His car drove off through the forest in the direction of the mountain gorge. The car was adapted for driving even on extremely narrow mountain roads side by side with a precipice, but this would only create unnecessary trouble. Vlad left it at the foot, in a familiar explored place, and, after a little thought, turned into a bat, since this was the most maneuverable and inconspicuous way to get there.

The autumn wind began, as if out of spite, blowing directly in the opposite direction of his flight. Its force was growing, and with it the whole surroundings was rhythmically plunging into despondent gloom. Bare, sheer cliffs were all he saw along the way, and an eternal blue-gray mist swirled beneath him. It beckoned some adventurers to dive into it and find out what might be hiding behind the bleak haze. This was nothing new for Vlad, but he felt the same way every time. This place was located on the outskirts of other mountains and forest, it had its own rejecting unfavorable atmosphere, and even during the day the sun shone here differently than everywhere else. In spring, summer and autumn, were frequent drizzling rains, and there has never been much snow in winter. And there were reasons why it was still possible to meet someone here from time to time. Someone who definitely corresponds to all this disturbing territory.

Vlad was briefly visited by confusion and doubt about his goal several times while he was heading there. But to turn back for him already meant humiliating himself. The thought to make sure that the family and at the moment the only human in it, Johnny, is not in danger coming from here, came to him two days ago. He's already been stalling. And he didn't need anything extra except himself to deal with the nuisance, or rather with the pack of these nuisances, if it still had the audacity to stay in these parts.

The vampire in the form of a bat flew to the place that stood out significantly in the rock and levitated in the air just a few meters away, softly flapping his wings. He listened and watched. But all he could hear was the howling of the wind and the rustling noise of the light rain that began at that moment. And between the pointed stones that framed the entrance to the cave there was nothing but unpredictable darkness.

"Well, it's happened before. It is possible that these dumbasses may be napped there," Vlad thought suspiciously. To say something out loud would be rash. "If so, they imagined that I'd never come back here... Well, they can suck it, because this has been my place ever. Oh, STOP IT already! Here we go, buddy…"

He swooped down onto the narrowed path to the cave and stood in front of the passage in his usual form, except for slightly wet clothes and hair. His face was extremely unimpressed, indifferent and ready for anything.

But before he stepped inside, Vlad remembered how it all started. Perhaps he did this to analyze the mistakes once again, although never until the time when his 'pals' crossed the line of permissibility, he didn't think how miserable that could actually be.

This happened relatively recently, in the middle of the fall twenty years ago. Vlad was about to return to the castle after an emotionally difficult one day and one night work, but besides that, he was once again tormented by thoughts of his son and their breakup, and he was so exhausted that he had no desire to exchange even a few words with his eternally restrained assistant. So he didn't come home that night and the next day either. Vlad had times when he just wanted to run away, that's all. That's what happened back then. His path lay to an unknown destination.

By the time he approached the mountain belt, Vlad had slowed down and was just walking at a hasty pace. The mountains, that was the perfect place to be alone. And he walked forward with interest along the steeply ascending path, towards the moonlight and clouds. If his memory was right, he had never been to this weird part of the Carpathians before. In that case, he definitely needed to look around here.

As he moved on without turning off the road he had chosen, the intensity of the night sounds decreased. Even the howling of wolves, which Vlad's ears perfectly caught from the forest below, could no longer be heard. In the silence, the heels of his shoes clicked a little on the stone. He even liked it, because it was here that he felt the utter enjoyment of loneliness. In such a balanced state of mind, which he hadn't had for a long time, the vampire didn't notice how he reached a dead end.

If this dead end was unremarkable, Vlad would have just jumped into the abyss and continued walking (or flying) wherever he looked. But there was a crevice that looked like the entrance to a cave. The long rocks around this crevice resembled the fangs in the mouth of a beast. Vlad, after carefully examining the place found by chance, chuckled.

"Why not come in, really?" he decided, grinning for some reason. "It must be even quieter there. Of course, it's cold there, but who says you can't make a fire there? And no. Any. Fucking. Bothering..." Saying this to himself, he bent down and got through the rocks sticking out from above and below.

Vlad thought that he had entered a kind of anteroom. At least, this was only the first part of the cave, and then there was another passage, a little narrower. Something crunched under his feet, and Vlad discovered that it was the bone of some animal, presumably a deer. He looked around – other bones and skulls were piled up in several places, dried up and completely freed from the flesh. But after walking a little further, he came across a part of the corpse of a baby deer, which gave off a characteristic damp and rotting smell.

"Huh, that's why I smelled animal blood..." Vlad rolled his eyes. He chatted freely to himself out loud, of course not expecting to get an answer to the question. "Haha, I wonder what chumps could gobble like that now, at the end of the 20th century?"

After the words spoken, Vlad fell silent and could have sworn that in the depths of the cave something snarled and rasped against a stone surface. Then again. And again. He got wary. Finally convincing him that he wasn't alone here, at first a slight vile giggle rang out from that end of the cave, turning into a terrible mocking and frantic laughter. And this laughter belonged not to one, but to a whole group of unknown creatures. Vampires never laughed like that.

Vlad waited patiently for the commotion to slow down, but he didn't budge or say a single word. And this trick worked.

"So dare to come and see, our dear intruder..."

Vlad was genuinely surprised at the sudden invitation. It sounded defiant and sassy, almost as his rhetorical question earlier. But he didn't expect it to turn out that way.

Continuing to remain silent, the vampire straightened his shoulders and the collar of his cape and moved inside the tunnel not so rich in fresh air. A few drops of water fell on him from the low ceiling, which he would have hit with his head if he had been only a few centimeters taller. He bent down one last time to go through the hole and went out into the spacious chamber of the cave. It seemed even colder there. Vlad's eyes glowed a clear blue, clearly letting them know about his fearless invasion.

It was here that he saw them. Dark huge bodies, like cocoons from afar, hung upside down from the ceiling of the cave. Vlad was closely watched by dozens of pairs of red, aggressively glowing eyes, unlike his own. These creatures had gray rough, somewhere bald skin, including on their heads, but their chests and hunched backs were covered with coarse, unkempt hair. Menacing, extremely long lower canines protruded from their mouths, but their other teeth looked no better. The ears were long, wide and pointed, and the noses were nothing more than just a pair of ugly nostrils on a flat mass of skin. Looking at them from a distance, Vlad even allowed himself to wonder how these beasts might behave if they weren't sentient beings. As he had already realized, they could talk meaningfully, but the level of their minds remained very questionable.

The monster hanging from the stalactite ahead of all its kind looked at the newcomer especially intently. Vlad immediately recognized it as the one who answered him, and therefore the leader of these creatures that look like mutated bats. The creature spread its wings and descended to the floor.

"I told you so," someone from this monstrous gang grunted in annoyance, "this smell can't belong to someone young and weak... But look who we got here! An old fool of those finest aristocrats who decided that they could walk wherever they want!" The creatures burst into howling laughter that shook the walls.

"Shut up!" The leader roared, wildly curling fingers on the forelimbs with red veins showing through the skin. His charges obeyed, and he clumsily approached Vlad in silence, breathing noisily from the rage that filled his whole being. Vlad leaned back a little, wrinkling his nose.

"Who are you and what do you need in our domain, you insolent rat?" The monster was unceremoniously inspecting his appearance.

"Did you say 'rat'?" Vlad pretended to yawn. "Well, I eat rats sometimes. Do you have rats here, too?"

The pack began to murmur confusedly. The leader looked him in the eye with hostility, but his brain was beginning to realize that this vampire wouldn't be frightened, no matter what he was told.

"I apologize for disturbing your idleness, gentlemen," Vlad continued sedately, which put the bat-like creature in front of him into a stupor, "but I must say, you gotta a nice place here, in your own way. My name is Vlad, and consider, you dimwits, that I'll stay here if I want to." He spoke briefly, knowing that revealing all his titles, illustrious name and status would not do anything useful.

"What did you say, upstart?!" The monster lost his temper at this statement, which led to the fury of the others. The creatures broke from their seats and rushed around chaotically through space, including very close to the vampire, almost touching him with their dirty claws, but fearing his power as a superior. They probably already had a sad experience. The indignant leader almost attacked Vlad, but acted even more stupidly than the others, for which he was thrown across the cave into the far wall.

"Now, all of you shut your blood holes and take the trouble to listen!" He snapped, crossing his arms behind his back. "I was just going to make you a great offer, and you guys are wasting your chance. Real demons, aren't they..." He shook his head, smiling indulgently.

The beasts stopped, and in some places there were puzzled discusses of 'offer'. The bat demon that was approaching Vlad approached him once more, this time with more caution.

"What do you mean?" he grunted.

"Huh, it's nothing..." Vlad waved it away. "I suppose you have no idea what's going on in the world right now? You just… sleep and eat here, and that's your whole life! Don't you get bored sometimes?"

"So what?" The demon snorted reluctantly. The vampire's words made him think, oddly enough, that it was true.

"By the way, what do you think about, you know, humans?"

"I HATE humans!!!" he categorically stated in ferocious voice. "Pathetic and cowardly bastards!" And his point was highly supported among other demons.

"It's because of humans that you live here, isn't it? I must admit, it's not just humans who bother me. In a sense, we can understand each other," Vlad concluded, clasping his hands in a lock. "And when I've had enough of all this, I'm going to take breaks from this crap here. And you fellas will benefit from me too... Good company, eh!"

"You mean you don't have vampire cronies, so you choose us, Vlad?" Another demon asked suspiciously.

"Glad you've remembered my name, my dim-witted friend!" Vlad half-jokingly beamed and patted the demon's bald and smooth head. "But from now on, call me Master. Oh, and I didn't ask your name, dearie?" he addressed the leader.

"Bela," the monster snorted. He was still skeptical about everything he heard, despite the fact that he understood how the vampire becomes the one in charge.

"Magnificent name!" Vlad made a fake compliment, inwardly amused how such a name could be given to this far from beautiful-looking creature. "So, where were we..."

"Magni... What?! What the hell is this?"

Vlad slapped his forehead, realizing their ignorance, looking up at the ceiling. "Holy rabies, you're really out of touch."

He was distracted by something that attracted him and took a step forward, causing the crowd of confused bat demons to jump slightly to the sides. His careful vision went to an empty place, almost in the middle, next to which the stalactite of the pack leader, Bela, was growing from the ceiling. And since Vlad intended to set up his hideout here, he had his first wonderful thought about it.

"The thing missing here is the throne, don't you think?" He pressed a finger to his lips. "Well, we'll need some stone slabs for the steps and some stones that will make up the throne perfectly if they're cut properly."

"What are you gonna do?" Bela and some of the pack members crowded around him, looking at him with a sense of concern for their place. They were still reluctant to submit to his actions while Bela seemed resigned realizing that the vampire turned out to be quite persistent and had an actual dominance over them all.

"Oh, well, not right now..." Vlad walked steadily onto the ceiling of the cave and stopped, hanging upside down like them over the place he liked. Apparently, he was not even in a hurry to leave or make the aforementioned throne. His new demonic minions looked down from below, blinking occasionally. "You were wondering why I came here, huh? I feel anger that I have no one to tell about. Mostly at my own son..."

"Do you have a cub??" Bela almost shrieked in a hoarse voice. He was rarely able to speak completely calmly.

"Easy, Bela. He's no longer a cub, but an adult vampire, for that matter. However, he doesn't always behave like an adult..." Vlad patiently began to explain, keeping silent, of course, about himself in this regard. He was smart enough not to share the other side of the problem with creatures not made for empathy. "Have you ever heard of the guy known as the Prince of Darkness, or, to put it simply, Count Dracula? About a century ago, he burned down an entire village nearby..."

"And I thought that everything was not so hopeless with them..."

Vlad looked away regretfully. From the first time he came here, he regularly visited his new cronies, becoming more and more saturated with the sullenness and insult that reigned in his soul. And so for a long time his transitions took place from an energetic and active social life to useless sitting in a cave, often even silent. It happened that he just came, fell on the throne, clung to the armrests and remained motionless.

He was partly curious about the bat demons themselves. They, as he'd found out, didn't remember or didn't know where they came from, how they ended up here, and so on... Vlad nevertheless gradually studied them without their knowledge, taking advantage of their dullness. But now it didn't matter at all.

So he entered the cave without stopping, without sniffing, and without expecting anyone to notice him. Vlad even felt like he was reliving that night again.

In a couple of seconds, he reached the same old place where his throne stood and where demons once were laughing in unison or sleeping on the ceiling. Only now the vampire was here all alone, as he had wanted then. Wherever they were now, shamefully defeated, they have left this place. Vlad looked around once more, feeling the lingering remnants of their scent.

He allowed himself to exhale calmly, assured. "Ha, cowards..."

Vlad walked over to the throne, sitting on it and crossing his legs with a satisfied grin. He didn't think he'd ever love to be rid of that nasty. The safety and happiness of his family were now being vigilantly guarded.

"Hmm, maybe I should mark the territory for a guarantee?" he seriously assumed, but then burst out laughing. "Okay, okay, this is too much for them... But still, I wish I could see their faces!"

Without hesitating a minute, he got up and, with an easy heart, calm primarily for his human grandson-in-law, left, thinking that it would be nice to walk to the hotel.

Stand up, tired of being the victim

You only on the outs, if you with them

Only hurts if you give 'em credence

Give 'em reasons

They're not better than you

They're just a figment of imagination

There are times when I don’t like myself

I believe all the things that they say about me

I wanna love myself, just like everyone else

But there are times when I don't like myself…

Chapter Text

Dracula slept very restlessly. Even though he went to rest in his coffin, in which he hadn't slept for a long time, he didn't gain a sense of security from the enclosed space. At the moments when he woke up, he tried to close his eyes again, but it was worse than lying with his eyes open and running his fingers along the inside of the coffin lid. At some point, he would fall asleep anyway, and the image of Martha would come back to him, bringing with it longing and devastation. Drac always believed that his dead wife was really talking to him in his dreams, bringing some meaningful message every time, but for some reason she was silent that day.

Unable to find out what the reason was, he despaired and impulsively jumped out of the coffin, landing with his bare feet on the cold floor. He subconsciously grabbed the lid so that it wouldn't pop down and wake Ericka, who was sleeping in her private room next to his. When it came exclusively to sleep, the couple slept separately, and this suited both of them. Today Drac was especially taking care that she had a good rest, without being unsettle by his tossing and turning in bed and sighing.

He could no longer be afraid of sunlight, as the time had come to sunset after some hours of his torment, so he opened the curtains in the same reckless distinct. The ability to observe the view of the forested mountains helped him focus a bit. Drac swallowed and made sure his voice wouldn't let him down.

"Why don't you talk to me?" he raised his hand with the palm open, as if giving it to someone, with genuine bewilderment. "Yes, I know, we'll meet after midnight, sort of in person, well, as we always do... But didn't you want to tell me something? It's because of Ericka, right?"

When he asked the question, he quite knew the answer to it. Martha didn't open her mouth, because it was the first year with Ericka in the family, but it wasn't she who was afraid to say something in the physically invisible but tangible presence of Dracula's second wife next to her spirit. It was Dracula who didn't dare to reflect on her here, not standing in front of the portrait or at the ruins of their former home, or even at her non-literal grave. In no way did he want to devalue both women, who were equally dear to him. Draс believed that he had released Martha into the unknown world of the dead, but felt that peace of mind would come only if they discussed his new marriage, a new chapter in his life. And, perhaps, understand why he was given a second Zing...

"Whatever it is, my dear Martha, we will find out. I hope you'll be waiting for me at our place. And..." Drac looked away nervously, at the wall behind which Ericka's bedroom was located. "And I'm not sure if Ericka will agree to go. I really want you both to understand me..."

Ericka was among the last to enter the dining room when some of her family and friends sitting there had already eaten at least half of their breakfast. No one here would blame her for being late, because it was just one of many regular meals. Mavis and Johnny were the first to notice Ericka, the latter waved his hand invitingly at her, pulling out a chair for her between him and Vlad.

"Oh, we were just waiting for you..." Vlad gave her a fleeting glance and continued to chew on the bloody donut. "It got pretty boring here. And silent." Ericka was momentarily speechless, as she was still unaccustomed to hearing she was waited for. Still she smiled and sat down on the offered seat. The red-haired guy politely pushed the cutlery towards her.

"You know perfectly well why that is, Grandpa," Mavis made a long face and returned her gaze to her plate, sliding a spoon over the porridge with jam.

"Is something wrong?" Her sullen reply convinced Ericka of the girl's spoiled mood. She was almost afraid that it was caused by her arrival, but quickly reassured herself that it would be nonsense. She turned her body slightly to Vlad on her left, and as always, he had an answer ready. This vampire seemed to know the answers to everything, at least within the hotel.

"She'll cool down, take my word. You see, kid, here's the thing," Vlad lowered his voice to almost a whisper, although it was no secret to everyone present, "at midnight there comes one very woeful day. The anniversary of our Martha's death, the 125th, to be precise."

"That's right, how fast time flies," Frank sighed from the other end of the table before Ericka could comment on anything. "That day left its mark on us forever."

"Yeah, but every year it becomes easier for us to accept the loss and just honor the memory," Wayne confirmed. "As for Drac... Eh, same old, same old."

"Oh? Exactly the next day??" Ericka gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, sheepishly directing her gaze to her lap. "I wish I'd known about this before. To be honest, I haven't even had a chance to see Drac since I woke up... But I... I'll understand if he wants to be alone and therefore doesn't want to catch my eye."

"Dad's not particularly willing to make contact on this day every year, even with me," Mavis joined in, still maintaining a serious look.

"Last year, I don't think he even left his room at night..." Johnny scratched the back of his head reflectively. Even he was closer to this sensitive family topic than Ericka, so she didn't feel quite comfortable with this conversation.

"Come on, you don't think this is normal, do you?" Vlad softly banged his fist on the table in oppose. "Ericka, you are new here and so far the least knowledgeable in the details of my son's life drama! Plus his wife. And we all know here that Drac has trouble letting go of the past. Therefore, you should make Mr. Tough Guy understand that he can talk it out."

"Me?" Ericka stared at him in disbelief, feeling the increased attention on her. "But wouldn't Drac be mad if one of us tried to talk to him about it?"

"I think he won't refuse to talk to you. It's time to stop Dad going through this alone," Mavis supported the idea. "He trusts you so he'll open up. Just show that it's important to you. I believe that things will get better after that."

"Thanks guys," Ericka was a little embarrassed, but flattered by such trust in her.

"Maybe he even wants you to help him," Johnny added. "But he's afraid that you won't feel comfortable hearing about his first zing."

Ericka actually wanted to provide support from her side, but before that she didn't know how to approach it. The current case turned up well for this, to prove her sincere respect and interest for the family history before her. "Um, do you have any other rules of this day that would upset Drac if violated?" she asked.

"Well, no one throws loud parties, and in general, everything is getting quieter in the hotel..." Jonathan shrugged. "The rest Drac will tell himself."

"Okay, where can I find him now?" She quickly ate the rest of her portion and got up from the table.

"Intuition tells me," Vlad ran a claw over his nose, "that he went to..."

"The attic!" Johnny couldn't help but finish the thought.

"Hey, I wanted to say that!"

No one had time to realize how Ericka had already disappeared from the dining room. However, everyone finished breakfast in the same slightly mournful silence and went to their rooms. In turn, they were also going to pay tribute to the deceased family member, but after being convinced that Dracula could accept it. Everyone valued Martha as much as he did.

Before opening the attic door, Ericka took a steadying breath. All she thought about was if Drac would let her talk to him. Morally, she seemed ready to be turned away, but hoped at least to check how her husband's doing. She made an effort and pulled the door open.

"Drac?" she called out. "Honey, are you here? You probably haven't even had breakfast, have you?" She gazed around concernedly, looking for him. Considering how well the vampire could disguise himself, she knew she wouldn't have found him right away if he was hiding. Fortunately for her, the Count himself came out to her from somewhere, from behind a thick canvas hanging from a wooden beam, blocking off part of the attic, as soon as she stopped in front of the huge chandelier standing on its side.

"Ericka?" he replied bashfully, ashamed that he had kept her waiting. "I didn't think you would come... I mean, I didn't expect it..."

"So, why didn't you tell me earlier?" Ericka approached him and even stood on tiptoe, frowning severely.

"Tell... T-tell what?" Drac stuttered, hiding his head in his shoulders.

"Drac... You know what I mean," she breathed. Her eyes followed his reaction and left no chance for a loophole. Dracula gave up and looked down guiltily, his cape clinging tightly to his hunched figure.

"I'm... I'm sorry. I wish you didn't have to deal with all the problems I have, Ericka," he uttered.

"No, Drac!" Ericka grabbed him by the shoulders to make him listen to her. "This is something that cannot be kept silent about! I didn't know Martha personally, but she's family too. And if you all honor the day she died and her memory, so do I."

"This night falls out of my life every time..." Drac sat down on the nearest chest and clutched his head. "It's like I'm with her again, but not fully. I don't know what to do, Eri, I don't want to part with you and the others..." He sniffed and ended up covering his face with his hands as the sobbing became difficult to contain.

Ericka gasped softly and squatted down next to him, putting her hand on his knee and trying to reason with him. "Drac, it's okay. We just have to figure this out together. If I can at least roughly understand what's happening to you, it will be much easier."

"Sometimes I can't understand it myself..." Dracula confessed, wiping his tear-stained eyes. "At midnight, I'm going to go to our former castle and talk to Martha. If she doesn't answer, I know she'll hear me out anyway."

"So why did you come up here?" Ericka straightened up and stepped aside, making it clear that she was curious to look behind the canvas, since that was where her husband was sitting before she arrived. Drac opened his eyes wide and blinked to regain his composure. She would undoubtedly reveal any of his lies due to his current moral decline, so it was pointless to lie.

"I, well, decided to clean up a bit and check the condition of my, uh... private hiding place," he giggled and spread his hands awkwardly.

"Aww, really?" Ericka folded her arms in affection. "What's in there, darling?"

"Come with me," instead of answering, he offered her his hand and gently led her along.

On the dusty plank floor near a large antique chest of drawers, which the Count had once brought from where he lived with his daughter after the fire, his old belongings were laid out in a line, serving as a mournful memory. Among all things, the miniature pocket-sized paintings, which depicted Dracula and Mavis at different ages, stood out. After asking permission, Ericka knelt over all these little treasures, and Drac joined her, once again taking a nostalgic look at them.

"I like this one the most!" she proudly announced, raising her hand with a portrait of broadly smiling Dracula with Mavis in his arms, where the girl was laughing and tightly clutching a red lollipop. "These cute tiny portraits are almost like the one your dad showed me the other day."

"Oh no, does he still carry that around?" Drac rolled his eyes, but not in his usual judgmental manner, but rather dejectedly. Then he sighed and began to leisurely wipe his relics, along the way intending to tell Ericka about them if she had any questions.

"Hey, it's as valuable to him as all this is to you..." she justified Vlad a bit, but that was not the topic of conversation. While Dracula was putting some books back in the drawer, Ericka found a ruby ring on the floor.

"Oh, that?" he forestalled her question. "My old engagement ring. I stopped wearing it shortly before I met you, and decided it belonged here, safe. Really, I felt it was time, hehe."

"I think it needs a jewelry box," Ericka rubbed it lovingly with her finger. "What happened to her ring?"

"Disappeared forever with her..." Drac whispered. "It belongs to Martha only, and it doesn't matter if she's alive or not."

Ericka fell silent, listening only to him and no longer pestering him with questions. Next, Drac picked up two necklaces, slowly releasing them into a velvet pouch on a puff and putting them away. He looked like a dragon who no one would dare to disturb his admiration of his precious material reminders of a once-happy past life, meaning more than gold.

"I brought most of what I have here from our summer house," he said. "We loved spending warm days there and some of Martha's personal belongings are still there... I keep only a little here."

"Did Martha like to collect herbarium?" Ericka wondered, pointing to an open old album with pages full of pasted dry plants.

“Yeah... Yeah, she did," Drac lowered his gaze, embarrassed by his smile creeping onto his face. "You know, Martha had a lot of such cozy hobbies... She was an artist, a poet, a musician."

"A musician??" She was delighted, showing her pure interest. Having already seen the very portrait that Dracula managed to save from the fire once, Ericka had a premonition that she was facing a creative personality.

"She loved to play the piano, a little bit on the violin..." Dracula looked up at the ceiling, as if wanting to see the sky there. "I used to practice with the violin too, but I was constantly out of tune, hehe..."

"By the way, Vlad promised that he would help me remember the basics of the piano. I played on the ship, occasionally," Ericka moved closer to her husband and hugged his hand. "What about poetry? Is there anything left of her work?"

The Count fussily straightened his shoulders at the question. He seemed very pleased with his own answer. "Oh, I'm pretty sure there is! Some of her drafts were in the summer house... There is only one in the hotel that is finished and it's perfect."

"What is it?"

"It was a gift for our daughter's 118th birthday... Martha composed it, if I'm not mistaken, while she was still pregnant, and even if she didn't foresee an imminent death, she knew this was important thing to do."

Drac stifled a small sob and squeezed his eyes shut as the lines that he could recite as a prayer at any moment surfaced in his memory. In a sense, this gift was dedicated to him too, because it described the story of their love with Marta in the most concise but meaningful way. Mavis' 118th birthday has long passed, but father and daughter sometimes took out the book, admired it, reread it...

"You know what?" He suddenly said. "It's in Mavis' room right now, and I... don't want to bother her, but I could tell you it by heart right now if you want, honeybat..."

"I have a better idea. Let's leave it for later," Ericka stood up and extended both hands to him invitingly, smiling positively. "We can go and visit Martha together, and there we'll tell her all our news, okay, Drac?"

Drac exhaled, and with that air, an inner heaviness came out of him. Breathing became easier. He nodded, hesitantly at first, and then boldly.

The vampire and the human stood in front of the grave with their hands clasped together. Drac couldn't believe that this was really happening, and he kept wriggling at the spot nervously. Ericka, on the other hand, was at peace, pleased that her zing was finally accepting things as they were.

She gently nudged him in the side and handed him a bouquet of red and white roses. "Come on, Drac. It's from both of us..."

"Don't worry about Mavis and me, Martha... We're all safe now. Thank you for helping me find the meaning of life," Dracula knelt down in front of the tombstone and laid the bouquet under it, looking at his and Ericka's reflection in the granite slab. His wife nodded approvingly.

He didn't get up for some time, and in thoughtful sadness, he didn't even notice how his company had increased in number. Vlad and Mavis were the first to approach silently, as befits vampires, followed by Jonathan, dressed in an unusual for him strict beige suit. All of them, including Drac's Pack accompanying, changed their dress code to a more restrained and formal one for such an occasion. Ericka turned around and waved wordlessly at them in greeting.

"Everything went fine," she whispered to Mavis while everyone stood apart, not wanting to disturb Drac. "Your dad's feeling better."

Mavis breathed a sigh of relief. "And us too..."

Chapter Text

Slowly but surely, nature was beginning to wake up from its winter slumber. The snowdrifts melted quickly under the sunlight, the same thing happened with massive icicles. The length of daylight increased, which cheered humans up and caused vampires feel familiar spring blues. It remained to wait until all the meltwater evaporated or went into the ground.

In the depths of the forest, in an inaccessible nook, behind a cast-iron gate, stood an unsightly two-story mansion. It was not luxurious either inside or out, as it was supposed to be just a summer house. Well, now everything was not as it was supposed to be...

A man, tall and sophisticated vampire, in an inappropriate attire for the weather – a long nightgown and simple lace-up shoes – was chopping firewood near the porch. If someone had taken a closer look at him at that moment, they would have seen that this activity was not a joy for him, but more like a forced measure for survival. And undoubtedly, it was the famous Count Dracula, who had incredible powers and intelligence, who could have found a bunch of other more convenient ways to achieve this small goal. But not this time. This time it was much more complicated.

The pile of firewood was replenishing with new ones, and he was already thinking of putting down the axe, when a demanding infant crying was heard from the slightly open window above him. Dracula stuck the axe into the stump without further hesitation, rubbed his hands together and looked up at the second-floor window.

"I'm coming, sweetie!" he shouted and immediately turned into a bat, flying over the windowsill and landing to the floor in the bedroom, the only room in which the fireplace was heated regularly.

Drac tried not to leave Mavis alone, except in such cases. He just didn't want to wake her up. The little vampire girl quieted down as soon as he fed her from a bottle and then rocked her again. There was no desire to go downstairs anymore, and he made an effort to move the firewood inside with hand magic and put it in the woodpiles by the fireplace.

After putting his daughter back in the four-poster crib, he almost collapsed into a chair at the drearily empty desk. Dracula propped his head on his hands and stared blankly at the wall. All that came to his mind were thoughts of how terrible and hopeless everything was. Grief sucked all the energy and strength out of him so much that it seemed to him that he was gradually fading and disappearing from this world. Martha had deceased away five months ago, and during that time there had been tremendous changes in him. He hardly slept, hardly drank any blood or substitutes, and forced himself to do housework. His nights consisted of lighting fireplaces, washing diapers, making baby formula for Mavis and, if he had an appetite, some meager food for himself. He felt peace only when he concentrated on communicating with the baby. And when she fell asleep soundly, he felt lonely again. He especially felt sorry for himself and cursed his life during the daytime, when he suffered from insomnia.

Drac remembered how he looked helplessly at their castle on fire with the crying daughter in his arms, how he ran in despair and unconsciousness, not understanding the way, how instinct led him to the only possible shelter where they lived now... How everyone found out about the tragedy and came to his aid as soon as possible, completely taking Mavis under their care... While in his room, he gave free rein to all the emotions that he had... And only a week later, he managed to approach his little girl on trembling legs and gently stroke her cheek, without fear that he might harm her.

On top of that, he had a serious fight with Vlad in mid-December. He had lost both his wife and his father. But, not everything was lost. Of course, his friends didn't leave him. They helped him to the best of their ability and in no case mentioned Martha in front of him. Now only her child, Mavis, was the meaning of the vampire's life. He protected her in a crazy way to guarantee her safety, always kept an eye on her, and when he couldn't do it for physical reasons, he would put a fairly reliable magical protection on the crib.

And although they lived even further away from human settlements and now, after the revenge done, Dracula no longer approached those places, it could not go on forever.

He stood up, too abruptly for his state of health, as he felt a little dizzy, but nevertheless held himself straight and walked a few steps forward. The movements, oddly enough, helped to ward off the blues. What the Count was experiencing was rather confusion and the beginnings of a brainstorming session.

"I have to do something... I have to..." His feverish mumbling was indistinct, the fabric of his nightgown fluttered as he walked back and forth past the window. "Otherwise, everything is gone. And we're gone..."

His gaze occasionally rested on Mavis, sleeping under cover and unaware of what her father was going through at that time. She was only a six-month-old baby. But what will happen when she grows up? In front of the girl's eyes, her father should not show himself as a weakling and a mess, and Dracula was sure of it.

Drac turned off the straight line and briefly approached his daughter, admiring how she smacked her lips in her sleep and breathed softly. "You'll be proud of me, coffin cake," he whispered, wiping an involuntary tear from the corner of his eye. "Someday... Someday everyone will be proud of me. And your mommy will, too."

To collect his thoughts, he hurried back to the window and put his hands on the table, shifting from one foot to the other. Dreams are dreams, but it was worth starting from real problems. It wasn't just his family and the vampire species that had suffered from humans throughout history. Other monsters no less wanted to distance themselves from potential danger and live, at least temporarily, with a full sense of security in their soul. Rest. They all needed a rest away from all the horrors emanating from humanity. Dracula, with his still fresh experience of traveling the world, knew exactly what could help.

He found a blank sheet in his desk drawer and took out a pen and ink to write the word 'hotel' on the paper. It was something to build on. That's what the same humans called the place where they came for recreation. There they didn't have to take care of household chores, food and a place to sleep. They only had to pay for the stay. As a single father, Drac definitely needed a stable income. He had his own savings, which were not enough. In the current circumstances, he wasn't going to count on help from Vlad (it was disgusting to call him father).

So, the goal was set. The vampire's haggard and sleepy face brightened. The thought that he could bring benefit, happiness and relief to many unfortunate people at once gave him cheerfulness, and for the first time in a long time he smiled to himself, and not at the antics of little Mavis.

"A refuge for all monsters and for our daughter," he said aloud, writing down his thoughts on a sheet. "Where no human will never set foot. I'll be able to provide that, Martha. For all of us."

The details of the plan were beginning to form in his mind. The idea of building the first monster hotel was not a joke. But Dracula knew himself and his tenacity, as well as all sorts of risks that he would have to take soon. He felt ready, and there was no time to waste.

Thinking that it was indecent to spend so much time awake in a nightgown, the Count finally changed into his suit and cape. Grabbing a new sheet, he hastily wrote out a few lines there, rolled it up into a tube and tied it with a black ribbon. He opened the window and whistled softly, summoning one of the sleeping mail bats from the attic. After a few seconds of waiting, the nocturnal animal was already flapping its wings with alacrity in front of him.

"Deliver this to Frank," Drac held out his hand with the letter, making an explanation. "As soon as possible." The bat grabbed the message with its paws and flew away, turning into a tiny dot against the background of a gray cloudless sky.

After watching it go, he immediately sat down to write the next letter. No matter how determined he felt tonight, he needed valuable advice from friends. Dracula might not fit into vampire society, but he had every chance to build his own.

Chapter Text

So they were left alone. And at first it seemed that everything was going on in a relaxed way. Johnny got the opportunity to stare with interest and awe at the baby in the crib, who was mostly asleep, but sometimes silently stared back with as much curiousity. At some point, he suddenly realized that he couldn't stare at his child enough. It was impossible, no matter how he tried to fully switch to another things. He was carried away by the exciting feeling of becoming a father.

He and Mavis had a son on the night of June 13th. Since they had difficulty choosing a name and didn't want to quarrel over it, Johnny turned to his parents for help, and eventually the boy was named Dennis after his paternal great-grandfather. Of course, the kid's other grandfather, Dracula, also very insistently showered Mavis and Johnny with his suggestions about the name. He was calmed down only by promises that his opinion would be listened to when planning a second grandson or granddaughter. Dennis, however, was very suited by his name. He was a boy with several red locks growing on his head, which were even brighter and more curling than Johnny's, a pale but slightly freckled face, round protruding ears and blue eyes, like Mom's and Grandpa's. Everyone agreed that he was extremely cute, like all infants and even more.

The birth of a child at the hotel for the first time in its history was something new for both Drac's family and his friends and guests in general. Most of all, this influenced the behavior of Dracula and Mavis, which was expected. Drac already always had a positive attitude towards children of any age, and the fact of having a baby who was related to him by blood delighted him. His freaky behavior alone on the night of Dennis's birth was worth something... The Count had stocked up on toys, baby clothes and various baby care products and did it even with more passion than his daughter. Mavis, due to many circumstances, was inexperienced, which led to the fact that she diligently studied a lot of information about motherhood and devoted all possible time to being near her son.

That's why, in the first month of Dennis's life, it was only the third time Jonathan was alone with their son, besides, for almost the whole night, since Mavis had to see the doctor. And there was no other way to do this than to go to the city. Drac didn't go with her, although at first he was tossing between her and his grandson, but the inner voice convinced him that his overprotective behavior had gone too far, and it was time to come to his senses. Unfortunately, all the flaws were not so easy to eradicate...

Johnny wondered in his mind why he didn't have so much obsession and affection for his son like those two. He was scared and curious. It was not the responsibility for the child that scared him, but rather the lack of experience and the quick change in life. Johnny inevitably got used to the new role, but he did it without losing his special style.

Dennis fidgeted restlessly in his crib, which meant the end of quiet observation. He opened his eyes and looked at his dad, pursing his lips, and then whimpered. Johnny suppressed the urge to panic and picked up his son, more confidently than a couple of weeks ago.

"Hey, lil dude? What happened?" He rocked the baby, making body movements that amused him, but Dennis didn't seem to have any fun at all. He continued to wail even harder. "I thought you liked to sleep."

Continuing to rock him, Jonathan went over the possible reasons. The diaper didn't need to be changed yet, and Dennis didn't even want to calm down for a while to drink baby formula from the bottle. From this, the young father concluded that the boy just misses his mother.

"Awww, don't cry, kiddo, Mom will be back very soon, I can't do anything about it..." Johnny spoke to him comfortingly, his sighs were almost inaudible because of the intermittent crying. He came up with the idea of carrying his son on his shoulder, and strangely enough, to his relief, it worked, albeit not completely. Dennis's whimpering was quieter, and it didn't bother Johnny as much as crying.

There was a brief knock on the door, and without asking permission to enter, Dracula floated into the room, wrapped in his cape. He looked so focused and determined that Johnny involuntarily cringed. But as soon as his gaze met his grandson, Drac smiled charmingly and stroked his curls.

"Johnny, I was passing by and I heard Denisovich crying. What's the matter?"

"I have no idea, he must need Mavis," Johnny sighed and looked pleadingly at his father-in-law. "Drac, I could really use your help! Dennis is pretty calm when you're around..."

"Hello, my little tarantula..." Without further questions, Dracula gently picked up the baby and hugged him to his chest, rolling his eyes at the guy. "No wonder, Johnny, because I know how to take care of children."

Jonathan only managed to open his mouth slightly, watching as the Count, with skillful and familiar movements, laid Dennis on the changing table, adjusted the diaper and carefully changed into a lighter bodysuit. While doing this, he made funny faces, which made the baby boy squeak with laughter. Having finished dressing the baby, Drac changed his expression again and gave Johnny a disapproving look.

"Whaaat?" Johnny spread his hands questioningly and confusedly. "I can't read minds!"

"Oh, these inexperienced young parents..." Drac clicked his tongue. "Your child was uncomfortable in that bodysuit, Johnnystein, and you didn't even think of such a thing. Well, never mind, Papa Drac is always there to help your mom and dad, right, Denisovich?" He stretched out his lips, cooing with Dennis, who was holding out his hands to him.

"Papa Drac?" Johnny raised an eyebrow in surprise and came closer, watching Dracula shaking a rattle in front of his grandson.

"Is there something wrong with this?" Drac seemed offended.

"No, of course not!" Jonathan hastened to convince him, as he didn't want to start an argument.

He admitted to himself that when viewed from the outside, Drac certainly looked more like Dennis's father than Johnny did, maybe felt like one. Johnny didn't even know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. One thing he knew for sure was that Dennis' birth had awakened even more energy in Dracula. There was another person for whom he had an immeasurable amount of care. His own daughter had already grown up, and early, and Drac missed raising kids, giving him pleasure and pride for himself and the child. And although he often went too far, his help for Mavis and Johnny was invaluable.

"Oh. Looks like he's not going to cry at least for some time, cool. Phew... Drac, I don't know what we would do without you..." Johnny yawned and rubbed his eyes sleepily, sitting down on the carpet, almost at the feet of his father-in-law, who was sitting on the red velvet sofa with Dennis who was curiously looking at the ceiling.

"I can't help but participate in the upbringing of my grandson, especially considering that you and Mavey haven't been thoroughly prepared for this yet," Drac grinned slightly. "Ah, another little vampire in the family, isn't that wonderful?"

"Uh, Drac? You know, Dennis may not turn out to be a..."

"We'll see, Johnny, we'll see!" He interrupted him with displeasure, not wanting to agree. "This boy has every chance, he's half Impaler after all!"

Johnny shrugged imperceptibly, not knowing what to say. He didn't even think about what kind of character and preferences his son would develop in the future, let alone which genes would win in him. At first glance, there was nothing vampiric about Dennis, at least now he looked like a typical human baby. This question didn't bother Johnny as much as wondering if he could be a good father. And who else could he gain parenthood experience within the hotel, if not from his own relative and friend, which Drac was concidered?

"Drac?" After a short silence, Johnny ventured into a casual conversation, burying his forehead in the Count's knee. "I wanted to ask... When did you realize that you wanted a baby?"

Sweetly smiling at Dennis, Drac coughed in surprise when he heard the question. "Ahem... It was kind of natural. When I met Martha, I immediately realized that I wanted a family with her. I realized that the time had come."

"Then why don't I have that feeling?" Johnny hugged his knees. "Is this wrong?"

"Hehe, I should clarify that I was slightly over 400 at that time, and this is a young, but already quite mature age  for vampires to have children," Dracula chuckled. "And you, even if you were a vampire, are still very young, as is Mavis. But... I'm not judging you two and you in particular, Jonathan. Denisovich is the best thing that happened to me lately. You're not running away from responsibility, and that's the most important thing."

Johnny sighed and sat down next to the vampire, looking at the sleeping baby.

"I can't get rid of the feeling that I'm not going to make it and end up messing up somewhere. But I promise, I'll be doing my best, even if I wasn't ready. Thank you for always being there, Drac..."

"Of course, Jonathan. Family comes first."

He patted the human on the shoulder with confidence and looked at his grandson's tiny face with a smile again. A spark of mischief flashed in his eyes, hinting at grandiose plans for the future. After all, he finally had an heir, someone to whom he would give all the best of himself and once again remember what it was like to raise a kid, who, despite the red shock of hair and rounded ears, still took after him in a way. Sometimes Drac even began to think that Dennis was a gift of fate given instead of a son he never had and obviously never will have...

Chapter Text

"Hey, nervous about what's coming?"

"Huh?" Ericka craned her neck in stumper, not expecting to be addressed while she was hanging on looking at her reflection in a cup of dark brewed tea with mint. She lost track of time and only now realized that she had been silent for about a couple of minutes. In front of her, she could clearly see Johnny's understanding face again and their desserts on the table, which they had taken for breakfast in the hotel restaurant.

"I had exactly the same feeling last year, and as you can see, I'm still at my best, not to mention this!" He grinned ostentatiously, touching the pointed tip of his upper canine with his finger. "You can completely trust Dracula, the main thing is to want it yourself."

"Of course I want it, there can be no questions!" She exclaimed a little irritably, but immediately lowered her ardor with a guilty look. "Sorry, Johnny, I just want to know what to be ready for. You know, there's no going back, and it's not like I'd want to be human again, it's just... There are disadvantages to being a vampire, right?"

Johnny shrugged vaguely, inwardly completely satisfied with his new life. After the family clearing up some controversial points and canceling the move to California, a little over a year ago Drac turned him into a vampire. It was hard to notice any significant changes, though. He had difficulty flying and turning into a bat, when trying to levitate, he often hit the ceiling and walls, and he found the advantage of fangs so far only in the fact that it is easier to chew solid food and meat with them. But in his spirit, he was still the same Johnny and sometimes took too many risks, not counting his opportunities, which didn't please Drac at all.

"There are no disadvantages for me yet that I could say," Johnny thoughtfully folded his hands on the table and rested his head on them. "Except that Drac is constantly nagging at me, haha! But I understand why. He's worried that I'm using my new powers for something reckless. But trust me, it was worth it!"

"And immortality, right?" Ericka hitched on with interest, not having heard this part from him. While her tea was still warm, she took another sip, enjoying the warmth spreading through her body, and thought how it would feel if her body temperature were lower than human. However, she took her time with the questions.

"Immortality?" Jonathan raised his head questioningly. "Oh, I don't know... Honestly, I haven't yet felt that I am no longer mortal. It will come with time, I guess, and there is no other way to realize it. Vlad says you can't play with death, even if you're the master of the situation."

"I have complete confidence in my husband, and it's very encouraging to me, but..." Ericka put down her cup and hesitantly confessed. "Vlad must know all the important little things as well, especially considering his experience. How old did he say he was? Twelve centuries?"

"He turned 1244 this year, to be precise," Johnny confirmed and specified. "He's joking that the next anniversary is coming soon, but I can't agree with him yet..." He giggled and spread his hands, unable to imagine such a distant future.

"It would be useful for me to talk to him sometime," she listened to him and nodded, again a little taken aback by the impressive age in her opinion, which she could hardly give Vlad. "If Vlad doesn't mind, of course."

"Hey, he's at the hotel at least for tonight, until he leaves for duties," Johnny came up with an idea, and he pulled out his phone with anticipation, "so I can call him and see if he can..."

"Did someone want to call me?"

Ericka and Johnny gasped in surprise, trying to figure out which side the cheerful questioning voice was coming from. The voice laughed, and they looked up at the bat hovering over their heads. Vlad suppressed a laugh, pleased with their reaction to his show up, transformed through a red haze and jumped down like a feather next to their table, appearing dressed in a red shirt and his trademark flared trousers. Ericka and Johnny chose a place for themselves at the junction of the wall and the windows facing the open pool, so they didn't attract the attention of other diners of the restaurant, busy with their conversations and breakfast.

"Yo, what are you doing out here?" Johnny exclaimed emotionally, trying not to sound loud, clasping his hand with Vlad's.

"Ah, I just heard you talking about me when I came in here!" Vlad grinned with a sly look.

"Were you eavesdropping?" Ericka tilted her head suspiciously.

“What? Noooo, why would I do that?" He waved it away and grimaced. "However, I have to admit that I have pretty good hearing." But faced with the skeptical gaze of his daughter- and grandson-in-law, he confessed.

"Okay, okay, you two have got me figured out! I saw you right away and decided to find out what you two are talking about here at such an early hour, and without Mavis and Drac. And my guess turned out to be correct. Anyway, you can tell me everything that's bothering you, Ericka, it's better to be knowledgeable."

Without waiting for an obvious invitation, Vlad took a chair from an empty table next to them and joined them, sitting closer to the wall and crossing his legs. A glass with some kind of fizzy drink appeared in his hand, and he took a slow sip while Johnny and Ericka watched him: the first with amused interest, the second with concentrated attention.

"Jonathan, have you told Ericka about the turning process yet?" Vlad started with the most important question he was interested in.

"Yeah, as much as I understood myself," Johnny awkwardly waved his hand with the meaning of uncertainty. "You get bitten in the neck, and because of the venom, you literally die, but you are resurrected by getting the vampire's blood in your mouth. That's about it."

"And you get a mark from the fangs forever..." Ericka said as a continuation, glancing at the redhead's bare neck. There were two darker dot-like bite marks on the side of his pale pink skin. For her, this detail was even kind of cool and eye-catching. On top of that, it would be left by the man she loved.

"There's really nothing scary with that, to be sure," Vlad shook his leg in a relaxed way, "but you only begin to understand that after it's over. Tell me, back in your past of, heh, almost monster huntress, did you study a lot about our kind?"

"Well, I did study some things," Ericka shrugged, "but not that deeply, mostly about weapons and combat techniques. That you are all dangerous to humankind and don't deserve to exist. Heck, that sounds awful now... Otherwise, Great-grandfather would have suspected that I was a devoted monsters nerd... Probably."

"Huh..." Johnny squeaked nervously. "It was really not cool."

"I know..." Ericka sighed and lowered her head, looking up at the two men sympathizing with her. "I have to get rid of all negative stereotypes if I take such a serious step."

"You need to know what you're giving up and be ready for it," Vlad briefly covered her hand with his. "You will no longer be able to bask in the rays of the sun, feel the constant beating of your heart and warmth of your skin. You will outlive all the humans you care about now. Well, uh, in your case there's only Van Helsing, but... Johnny knows exactly what I mean. He has a big family in California. It always hurts even at the thought, but it's true."

"Oh... You're right," Ericka wiped her eye from a small tear. Even with Abraham's harsh upbringing and almost total lack of affection, he was her family, and she would definitely miss him.

"That's why there's not a whole queue of people who want to become vampires..." Vlad's expression turned serious. "Strict records are being kept, and you, Ericka, will soon have to sign a document stating that your consent to the transformation is voluntary and has grounds. Alright, now for the more neutral, maybe even funny part!"

He took a short break from the conversation, calling the waiter and ordering a glass of deer blood for himself and Johnny and a cup of tea for Ericka. She thanked him and thoughtfully watched the two taking sips of the thick and salty liquid, exhaling with pleasure after each time.

"Yeah, you'll have some specific taste preferences..." Vlad continued, putting down his glass. "Basically, it always depends on the vampire who turns you and, in general, on vampire stuff. You'll get some of Drac's preferences, like Johnny did, and you're even more likely to not be able to drink milk anymore without getting a stomach ache. It sucks, but not a tragedy."

"That's right," Ericka agreed with a smile. "But I'll be able to taste all the food that you guys love. Drac is still not very happy that I can't try his signature dishes, haha..."

"Since we're talking about food, here's an important fact for you – vampires have different reactions to garlic," Vlad giggled and winked at her, reminding her of her unsuccessful first date with his son.

"Johnny told me that Drac had lied to him about allergies, just like he lied to me until the last moment," Ericka snorted with laughter.

"He can be understood," Vlad rolled his eyes mockingly. "It's just that simple allergies are still the lightest side effect. There are vampires who throw up, feel dizzy, or have Quincke's edema... Brrr!"

"And what kind of reaction will I get?" She clenched her teeth, feeling a cramp at the thought what would happen if she accidentally consumed a product with garlic.

"Ha, it's simple here, Dracula's usual stomach upset will be passed to you, Johnny got the same thing..." Vlad explained, looking with a grin at how the guy frowned. "I'd love to give you my scabies through the transformation, but can't, sorry. This is a matter exclusively for you and my son."

"Wait, don't you have the same thing as Drac?" Ericka raised her eyebrows in amazement.

"Are you kidding?" Johnny straightened up. He, too, wasn't aware of Vlad's reaction to garlic until now, since he had neither been told nor personally seen by himself.

"Nope, I'm luckier, if I may say so!" Vlad looked so pleased, telling it like it was a fabulous piece of luck. "Mr. Tough Guy got his "allergy" from his mother."

Johnny and Ericka glanced at each other, realizing that they both had a lot to figure out.

In the large family living room, there was one of the most cozy places to read on the thickly carpeted floor next to the fireplace. Ericka often spent her free time on the ship reading books that she personally liked, and were not imposed by her great-grandfather as an additional education, so she fell in love with such leisure at the hotel even more. The small stack of books she had selected from the library was also a kind of self-education on the vampire theme.

Ericka yawned and turned another page, coming across an illustration of animal forms. It was undoubtedly an informative, but rather long and difficult book on vampire magic, and before that she had already read two hastily. Fortunately, Johnny was there too, bringing a little fun to the replenishment of knowledge.

"Actually, vampires can turn into more animals than humans have always thought, but not all of them and not so often," he chatted nonstop, lying on the couch behind. It seemed to Ericka more and more that he had memorized some chapters, at least as a retelling. "I've been able to turn into a bat for a long time, but I still can't fly well! Someday I will learn how to become a cat, a snake or even a wolf... Don't have enough experience and strength yet, it's kinda upsetting."

"Johnny, that's not the only reason you became a vampire," Ericka gently remarked, prompting him to finish the words.

"Yeeeah, it's all about immortality, to be with your family as long as possible..." He plunged into thought, and even a crease appeared on his forehead, indicating the seriousness of the topic. "You know, I still can't realize the idea that someday eventually I'll have to... well, kill myself. After all, vampires can't die otherwise..."

"Well, I don't think it's worth worrying about right now, Johnny..." After a moment of awkward silence, Ericka forced a smile, feeling that her mind was also hooked on this thought. "We have everything to live for."

"Sure thing!" He threw his hands behind his head, and his positive, cheerful expression returned to him, relieving him of the concerns.

Ericka returned to reading, but the obsessive thoughts that had accompanied her since the moment she first entered the hotel kept running through her head. It was not so easy to handle alone. That's why she was biting her lips from nerves, fiddling with the pages of books, seeking for reassuring conversations and finding helping comfort in the arms of her husband, who approached the upcoming event no less responsibly. As a future vampire, the unknown awaited her. But looking at her family, Ericka knew that in this unknown they would be with her till the end.

Chapter Text

"Dad? Dad, where are you?"

His daughter's demanding voice was inexorably approaching his hiding place. Dracula didn't benefit from her persistence in this situation at all. Johnny and his friends were also not on his side and helped in the search for the Count as best they could. Drac knew that in the current situation, it could only be one against all. And yet, right now, he felt offended.

The vampire listened, muffling his breathing. The footsteps outside the door seemed to have retreated with nothing. He opened the closet door a crack (yes, it was a bit of a silly place to hide), peeking through the gap. It was a rather rash move of his stubborn self.

"There you are!"

The vampiress dangled in front of his face upside-down. She wasn't irritated, but on the contrary, she was amused by her father's acting.

"Score one-zero for you, Mavis!" Jonathan appeared behind her, giggling at Drac's genuinely startled expression.

"Admit it, Dad, you're not going to get away with it in the end," Mavis crossed her arms while the Count had to get out of his former hiding place. He hunched his shoulders sadly, hoping for a last chance to escape it. The haggling and scowling earlier that night hadn't worked. Even the imaginary emergency situations of the made-up guests couldn't play for time.

"But honeybat..." He held out his hands to her, pleading in his eyes. "I swear, I'm fine!"

Mavis raised a skeptical eyebrow. Drac was sure that it would have been easier to convince his daughter if it hadn't been for the guy who supported her point and was chuckling at the sight of his desperate dad-in-law. The lad was just lucky that he hadn't yet had the opportunity to walk in the shoes of the experienced vampire.

"Dad, this is no joke!" Mavis didn't give up. "And you know very well that you'll regret it if you don't go."

"Oh, have you found Mr. Big Shot already?" Vlad, passing by and attracted by the sounds of his family's voices, poked his head into the room. "Heh heh... A little advice, next time get hammered so they won't let you in!"

"You're one to talk, Dad..." Drac narrowed his eyes contemptuously. Johnny snorted into his fist.

Vlad immediately looked around awkwardly and hurried to retreat before his son could elaborate the details. "Oops, gotta go!"

"Dad..." Mavis continued with a sigh. "We understand you. Almost everyone is, uh, hostile to such procedures. But somehow they go through this at least a few times, right?"

"Yeah dude, you went with Vlad, now we're going with you!" Johnny agreed with her, extending his palm invitingly to Dracula. The man didn't appreciate the friendly gesture and sulked more. It would look very cute if the couple didn't know the context. Sooner or later, common sense had to win, and they knew it.

"Can't it wait?" Drac groaned in an agonised voice and trailed off, straightening up and pressing his finger to his closed mouth. He probed the spot that was bothering him once more. The same nagging feeling.

"Daaaad..." Mavis tapped her foot impatiently, seeking an answer from him.

Drac's lips trembled, and eventually he gave up, prompting the two to smile and give each other a high five. "Yeeees, I have a toothache next to my right fang, so what?!"

"We're going to the dentist, and this is not up to discussion," Mavis concluded, coming up and hugging his side. Dracula settled his head on hers and made the most miserable face that only a pouty bat face could compete with.

"Come on, Drac, is it that scary?" Johnny put his hands in his pockets and stared at him curiously.

"You'll see for yourself..." he grumbled, making the guy cringe. "Vampire dentistry requires a real torture-like approach..."

"Don't be dramatic, Dad," Mavis shook her head and held her father's hand tightly. "You know why that is."

Drac whined with protest, allowing to escort him to the car though. And all because he was careless enough to mention the pain in his upper gum during breakfast.