AN: I know, its been a while. I got side tracked on other projects. Fell in love with Twilight (I know, but I'm a big sucker) after happening to stumbling into brother's house while his wife was watching Eclipse. Just hooked by it. Ended up staying for the last half of the movie. Because of that I've ventured into that in the FF world too. The story is called Charlie's Choice and is set about 4 years after BD. Not to give too much away, but Charlie gets sick and only one thing can save him.

Back to this, I've had this one ready for a while, just never satisfied with it. This is the best I've felt about it since i had the draft done in early February.

Chapter 3
I Really Screwed Up

(Dracula's POV)

They had zinged. That simple realization had almost destroyed me. My sweet little Mavis and the human, Jonathan had zinged and I tried to ruin it. I remembered what my late wife said to me after we zinged; that a zing wasn't something that happened by chance. If the two of them had zinged, then they were meant to be, but that still didn't make it any easier.

I had heard of monsters zinging with humans in the past, but it was rare. But my own little Devil Chops doing so, and at such a young age? I knew it. I should have suspected when Jonathan returned to the hotel after I tried to kick him out the first time. Mavis must have found him, and brought him back. I thought back to when I was with Jonathan telling him the truth about Martha's passing. He looked genuinely crushed, but he didn't look surprised. I tried to think what could explain his reaction?

That's when I remembered the dream I had the day before Jonathan arrived at the hotel. It seemed that the only dreams that I remembered were ones that involved Martha. Normally I would sleep like a dead man through the days, but it seemed that the only thing that could get into my subconscious to impress on me was her. In that particular dream, Martha had told me that someone was coming whom I needed to trust for the sake of Mavis. I figured it was a monster who would be attending Mavis's party, perhaps one of the older wolf pups. She had meant Jonathan. That was the only possibility.

Martha had been one of the first to propose that humans and monsters could be friendly with each other. Our kinds did not have to remain enemies. The introduction of blood surrogates had made this possible, but humans tend to fear that which is not like them. But I could tell that when Jonathan looked at Mavis, he saw a beautiful girl with whom he wanted to spend his whole life with.

I knew what this meant, but it was something I couldn't even tell Mavis about until they were ready to make the commitment to be husband and wife. The process to intentionally transform a human into a vampire was an extremely personal and intimate one, not to mention dangerous. Both the human and vampire share something with the other that is a part of their very being. While it was true that I had turned many humans into servant vampires, I had never attempted it in this manner, with the exception of one whom I thought was my zing before I realized that I was wrong.

Flashback, Transylvanian Highlands, 1672

I had been a vampire for almost an entire century. I hadn't aged much in the time since my father turned me. He had wanted servant vampires, so he had repeatedly bitten many of his most loyal followers. This was one of the two ways that a human could be turned, but it created slaves. Many of these former human's souls were corrupted by the lust for power, and therefore their transformations failed. They did turn into monsters, but not all the way into vampires. Rather they would be cursed to wander the world for eternity as large man-sized bats, incapable of ever mastering the true powers of vampirism.

My transformation was different. My father wanted a chief lieutenant, and so he turned me the personal way. He only bit me once, but then forced me to feed on his blood.

I still remembered that day. My own father had tied me to my bed, and showed me something about him that I had never known. He was a monster; I mean literally a monster. Yes, he was the infamous 'Vlad the Impaler', but that wasn't what I had meant. He had allowed this snake-like creature, the Lamia, to turn him into a vampire, and become the king of all monsters.

I screamed loudly as he leaned in to my neck and bit me. It was the most painful thing I had ever felt. My body felt like it was on fire, as the venom that his fangs produced began to course through my veins as he continued to drink my blood. I feared that he wouldn't stop until I was dead, and tried to plead with my own father to stop, but all I could do was whimper. I still couldn't believe that almost as soon as he bit me, he did stop. Then I felt something come over me as I tasted something extremely salty and sour touch my tongue, but at the same time it was delicious. I opened my eyes to see my father holding his left wrist to my mouth. I couldn't stop myself from drinking greedily until he eventually withdrew his wrist from my mouth after about a minute.

I lunged upward after that, feeling as if I would snap my spine in twain. I heard and felt things changing in my body. My teeth grew, which was excruciating. My eye sight improved to superhuman levels; I was able to focus on a small insect more than 40 feet away on a wall, and see it as if it were right in front of my face. I felt my muscles grow and strengthen. My ears also grew in to much more defined points.

The only thing I that I remember feeling for the next two days as the changes were taking place was indescribable pain. My entire body ached and burned, and I was aware of it all. I was unable to sleep because of it, and any sunlight striking my exposed skin caused it to burn. And while it healed almost instantly, it still hurt like the dickens.

For the next century, I fed on humans as instructed by my father. There was a time in my life, where all I wanted was his approval. A month after he bit me, he took me to a village not far from our home, and gave me one instruction; feed. Feed until my hearts content, which I did. Early in my vampiric life, I could not control myself and I did not stop drinking until it was too late. My father had turned me into a murderer. After a few years, I was finally able to stop myself from killing my victims. That was until that fateful night.

I still remember her. She had convinced me to give up the hunting of humans for sport. Her name was Tatyana, and she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. I still remember the first time I saw her; I had snuck into her bedroom, and lowered my mouth to her neck to drain her of her life sustaining blood, the divine liquid that coursed through her arteries that was the sustenance for vampires.

When my lips touched her neck, she shuttered then woke. When our eyes met, it was like magic; not a zing, but something very close to it. It sickened me that I nearly hurt this woman who had made quite an impression on me. I swore off human blood that night, but I couldn't stay away from her.

I returned to her every night just after sunset. I had found my own cave, and moved away from my father. I no longer wanted to associate with him, but finally one day he knew why I had left.

"You've found someone?" Vlad asked coldly, almost daring me to defy him.

"Yes!" I declared loudly and proudly.

"Monster or human?"

"What difference does that make?" I scoffed to him in reply. "I love her, and she loves me even after you cursed me with this!" I pointed at my body, with my voice showing the disgust I felt for what he had done to me.

"It matters, son," he replied. I never remembered a time before or since then that my father appeared to actually show genuine concern for my welfare or happiness. "If she is a monster, then that is acceptable, but if she is human, then how will you cope with her aging and her morality? And your needs?"

I knew what he meant. "I wouldn't wish this on anyone I cared about!" I snapped back. "Not even if we could be together for eternity!"

Another week passed, and finally she asked me about my nature. I don't know why I did, but I told her the truth. What shocked me was rather than panic or scream, she kissed me. It was our first kiss, and I loved it!

The next night, I decided to do it. I would bite her, and turn her into one of us. I wouldn't ask her permission, since I feared she would say no. This had an added advantage, as if she survived the transformation, she would have to be mine. It was extremely greedy of me, I know, but she would have to be loyal to me.

I saw her sleeping and I entered her room as quietly as possible. In the past, when I bit someone, I would savor it and allowed the smells of their flesh to intoxicate me. This time would be different. I acted quickly, and bit her. I drank her blood, and prepared to have her drink mine, but she never did. I held my right wrist to her mouth, but she never latched onto it. I never did figure out if I took too much blood or did something else wrong. I had killed my first crush. That night, I vowed to never again taste human blood, and never, ever again to try and transform someone.

I knew that their love would be dangerous, but I could not stop it. A true zing only happens once in one's life. Granted that Tatyana was not my zing, she was someone I cared about deeply.

"Sir, there's an emergency!" I heard a voice cry, which snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" I replied, as I quickly shook my head to regain control of myself and my thoughts.

"Sir," the voice repeated as I realized who it was. It was my chief armor. "All of the guests are leaving!"

"What!" I snapped, but I knew the reason for this exodus. I had lied to all of them.

I turned into a bat and flew to the lobby, hoping to stop as many of my friends as possible. I was relieved to see that many of my best friends were still there, although they looked very pissed. "My friends, please stop," I begged them, which was all I could do.

The scene looked like a mob. The lobby was full of monsters, all of whom were attempting to check out. The spokesmonster for the group was Griffin, which was not a surprise. "You sneak a human into the hotel after telling us how bad they are, and now you expect us to stay?" The invisible man snapped at me. I completely deserved this, but still wasn't ready for it. I didn't know what to say. "What if he killed one of us? Rabies, what if he hurt Mavis?"

"He'd never hurt Mavis!" I snapped back. "Johnny wasn't a bad guy. You have to help me get him back. Please."

I noticed that one of Eunice's fingernails poked through the tape on her box that she was packed in, and began to open it. He right arm held up her head as she retorted, "First you tell us humans are bad, now they're good? What's next, cold is hot? Up is down? Gremlins don't smell?"

"Hey!" One of the gremlins snapped, although it elicited a gaggle of laughter from the crowd.

Frank popped his head out of his box, which sent one of the wolf pups flying who was sitting on top of it. "I really liked Johnny; cousin or no," he said through tears, that began to make his head spark. "He told fun stories!"

I had to admit the reason why Jonathan needed to return to the hotel, even though I didn't want to, "I think they zinged."

A collective gasp went up among all of my friends. Wayne and Wanda said almost in unison, "They zinged?!"

Frank was no longer able to hold back his tears, "You only zing once in your life." Sparks began flying from his head as more tears streamed from his eyes.

"Oh, great. Now you're short circuiting!" Eunice snapped.

"I don't care!" Frank retorted.

"What are we doing," Griffin said, "lets go get Johnny!" The entire group showed their approval, which helped me to regain my courage to do what I needed to do.

I asked one of the armors in the lobby if he knew where the human was.

"Yes sir," the suit replied. "He is still in his room; room 231.

"Perfect!" I whispered, but many of my friends could hear it. I returned to them, and asked them, "Please, he is still here. Let me speak to him first, and then I will bring him so you guys can properly meet a human." Many of my friends were smiling, as I hoped they also thought that this could mean the beginning of the end of the fear between our two races.

The idea came from Wayne. "Why don't we have a few drinks at the lounge, and you can bring him and Mavis there to meet us."

I smiled. "That's a great idea, Wayne."

"For once in your life," Wanda snapped just above a whisper, but giggled afterwards.

"Hey!" Wayne protested, but was stopped by Wanda giving him a kiss on his muzzle.

I went directly to Jonathan's room, as I was unsure of how much longer he would remain here. At a full sprint, it took me only half a minute to reach his door. I used the knocker, but was stopped by the shrunken head. "Oh, its you," the head protested. "Why did you stick me with this meatbag?"

"Quiet, just do your job," I answered. I knocked louder, and yelled," Jonathan, I need to talk to you."

"Go away!" I heard a voice from behind the door reply. "I don't want a lecture. I'll leave in ten minutes!"

The voice was in tears, and I could tell how deeply heartbroken that the bout was, which made me feel terrible. "No, Johnny! You can't leave; at least not yet."

I heard the door lock unlock, and saw the door open. I would have to explain everything to Jonathan, but I couldn't even mention the fact of how their love could work. I knew that they had zinged, and that was what I needed to get them to embrace for the time being. I entered the room, and took one last deep breath to gather my courage.